WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Senate Democrats, looking to eliminate subsidies for oil and gas companies, introduced a bill Wednesday that they say will raise $20 billion over the next 10 years.
The bill, offered by Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) and seven other Democrats, would repeal several tax deductions offered to the oil and gas industry, such as a deduction for intangible drilling costs and a manufacturing deduction.
The bill would also impose an excise tax on oil and gas produced on federal lands, raising an estimated $5.3 billion.
President Barack Obama proposed several of these measures in his annual budget proposals. In his State of the Union address, the president asked Congress to cut $4 billion of oil and gas subsidies to help pay for clean-energy projects.
"Lavishing these giant corporations with incentives they don't need simply deepens our deficit and our dependence on dirty fossil fuels," Menendez said in a statement.

-By Tennille Tracy, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6619; tennille.tracy@ dowjones.com