United States Senate Candidate Tommy Thompson advocated for the construction of the controversial Keystone Pipeline during the unveiling of his proposed federal budget plan Monday.
Thompson’s RESTORE Act, or Reform Entitlements, Simplify Taxes, Overturn Regulatory Excess Act, will introduce a number of economic initiatives, including budget reform, repealing Obamacare and cutting regulatory barriers, according to a statement from Thompson.
Thompson’s announcement Monday focused more specifically on his proposed energy initiatives.
“My energy plan has three pillars,” Thompson said. “The first and most immediate priority is to build the Keystone Pipeline. Keystone has a two-fold benefit for the U.S. and Wisconsin, expanding access to North American oil and creating jobs.”
The most recent polling data from the Pew Research Center shows strong support for approving the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline the Obama administration rejected in January.
The poll released in late February found 66 percent of those who have heard about the issue said the proposed pipeline to bring oil sands from Alberta, Canada, to Gulf Coast refineries should be approved. The data also showed a partisan split with Democratic approval at 49 percent and Republican approval at 84 percent.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Graeme Zielinski questioned Thompson’s relationship with the Keystone pipeline.
“It looks very much [to] us that Tommy Thompson is going to benefit financially from Keystone’s development and that it’s not going to put gas in the U.S. market but instead into the market in India and China,” Zielinski said. “His financial backers will profit from this development, but gas prices aren’t going to go down because Tommy Thompson gets richer.”
According to a statement from the DPW, information obtained from Thompson’s recent financial disclosure reports included investments ranging from $99,030 and $619,500 in oil and gas companies, including between $2,000 to $3,000 in BP stock.
The second main energy initiative of Thompson’s plan would be to open new sources of U.S. territory to oil and natural gas drilling. The third initiative of the plan would expand natural gas production by protecting the “fracking” process, or the process of extracting natural gas and oil from the ground.
Thompson also emphasized U.S. Congress’ failure to pass a budget in more than three years and said the budget reform bill he revealed two weeks ago was a solution to the problem.
“We should no longer pay the salaries of senators who shirk their responsibility,” Thompson said. “If leadership refuses to schedule a budget resolution, my proposal would require the Senate to immediately consider cutting non-security discretionary spending.”
Polling conducted by Rasmussen Reports released last week shows Thompson leading U.S. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, the only Democratic candidate, 50 to 36 percent in a head-to head race, with 10 percent of voters undecided.
However, a second poll released by Public Policy Polling last weeks shows Baldwin leading Thompson 46 percent to 45 percent, former Congressman Mark Neumann 47 to 41 percent and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, 47 to 39 percent.
