Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO)
Rep. Scott Tipton, (R-CO) had some
trouble at home last week explaining why he's fighting a $15,000 expenditure in a mass transit project at home, which is delaying funding for the entire project, but still supports the $16
billion in tax breaks for oil and gas subsidies.
Tipton is reportedly holding up $24 million in Federal Transit Administration funding for the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority’s Veloci-RFTA project because he wants to trim $15,000 for wifi for on the bus system. Colorado Democratic Sens. Mark Udall, Michael Bennet and Rep. Jared Polis (CD2) recently fired off a letter to the FTA requesting release of the funds in time for the short construction season in the mountains, and Tipton declined to sign on.
A nonpartisan nonprofit called Taxpayers for Common Sense was scheduled to hold a press conference this morning in downtown Grand Junction— Republican stronghold and epicenter of energy production in Tipton’s Western Slope district—to “call on Representative Tipton to end subsidies to big oil companies.”
The group will launch a newspaper ad campaign and tout its new report (pdf), “Subsidy Gusher: Taxpayers stuck with massive subsidies while oil and gas profits soar,” which shows the top oil and gas companies reaping more than $16 billion in tax breaks and subsidies over the next five years.
Asked to comment on the Taxpayers for Common Sense campaign targeting Tipton and to provide his position on attempts to end the subsidies and tax breaks, a spokesman did not respond. Instead, the Colorado Independent received this statement from Tyler Q. Houlton, regional press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee:
"These misleading ads were bought and paid for by Washington special interests with no ties to Colorado, but with many ties to liberal elites. Hard-working Colorado families have suffered from skyrocketing gas prices due to the refusal of President Obama and Congressional Democrats to put forth an energy plan that reduces our dependence on foreign oil, expands domestic energy production, and creates and keeps jobs here in America."
One would think more hard-working Colorado families would benefit directly from the $24 million in FTA funding for the transit project, which would presumably put plenty of people to work building the system. And then, of course, are the savings they would get by being able to use mass transit and not have to pay skyrocketing gas prices. Which, in turn, would be a problem for those oil and gas companies. Makes one wonder precisely who's interests Tipton is looking out for.