From ATR’s Federal Affairs Manager Chris Prandoni in The Daily Caller: “Americans are worried about high gasoline prices and slow economic growth. The State Department has a rare opportunity to mitigate both of these problems at once — by signing off on the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The Keystone pipeline, which would transport crude oil from Canada to refineries in Oklahoma and Texas, would secure vital resources from a trusted ally. It would also stimulate the economy, increase government revenue, and create 13,000 high-wage construction jobs over the next two years and 340,000 jobs over the next five years in manufacturing and service industries that would benefit from the pipeline’s construction. The Keystone pipeline is essentially a cost-free stimulus. Americans who want to realize the pipeline’s long-overdue economic benefits should contact the State Department, which is currently accepting comments. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are at stake.”
Danielle Lynch of The Daily Times reported: “[Pennsylvania] Gov. Tom Corbett has proposed a $27.3 billion budget that relies heavily on cuts to education and other services to remain tax neutral. Corbett, a Republican, pledged not to raise taxes when he ran for governor. ‘If an offsetting tax cut is included in the same piece of legislation so as to make the fiscal impact of the bill revenue neutral or a net cut, that would not constitute a (Taxpayer Protection Pledge) violation,’ said John Kartch, a spokesman for Americans for Tax Reform, in an email.”
Bernie Becker, Peter Schroeder and Vicki Needham from The Hill highlight a recent profile of Grover Norquist: “Bloomberg Businessweek takes the latest look at Grover Norquist, and the anti-tax activist’s dispute with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). The takeaway? ‘Grover Norquist has no real precedent in American politics,’ the magazine says of the keeper of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. ‘A single unelected actor with a single issue, he holds immense power over the Republican Party's fiscal platform, and, through it, the national policy debate.’”
Ben Geman from The Hill writes: “A pair of House Republicans on Thursday withdrew their names from popular bipartisan legislation backed by billionaire energy magnate T. Boone Pickens that's designed to spur use of natural gas-powered trucks. Conservative groups are circulating letters that characterize the bill as undue federal intervention into energy markets. The influential group Americans for Tax Reform, in a letter to House members this month, argues that ‘conservatives must begin peeling back the numerous duplicative regulations and laws that facilitate or impede certain types of energy.’”
From PennLive.com, Laura Vecsey writes: “State Sen. Joe Scarnati has told a conservative Washington, D.C., beltway organization that his Marcellus Shale impact fee is not a tax. Scarnati sent a letter Wednesday to Grover G. Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform. The Jefferson County Republican leader defended his record of fiscal conservatism and said Senate Bill 1100 does not violate the pledge taken by four state Senators and about 30 state House Representatives. Norquist, a longtime Beltway lobbyist whose stated aim is to shrink government by 50 percent by 2025 so it's small enough ‘he can drown it in the bathtub,'’ took issue with Scarnati's swap of the terms ‘impact fee’ and ‘tax.’ ‘SB 1100, introduced last week by Sen. Joe Scarnati – who was the Senate field marshal for Rendell’s push for a severance tax last year, would impose $10,000 per wellhead ‘impact fee’ on drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale,’' Norquist wrote on the Americans for Tax Reform website. Norquist has been consistently calling on Pennsylvania state lawmakers to adhere to the promise they made to not raise any taxes. On May 20, Norquist issued a letter to state Sen. Mary Jo White, stating ATR’s opposition to Scarnati's bill.”
Tom Fowler and Jennifer A. Dlouhy wrote for The Houston Chronicle: “The Texas Senate sent Gov. Rick Perry a bill on Thursday that will establish incentives for companies to buy natural gas-fueled vehicles and help fund fueling stations in the ‘Texas Triangle’ linking Houston, San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth. Conservative groups including the Club for Growth and Americans for Tax Reform stepped up campaigns against the legislation they say is full of unwise tax credits that would distort the market. Grover Norquist, the head of Americans for Tax Reform, made his case against the bill in a letter to House members. His chief argument: Tax policies for specific energy sources, be they natural gas or renewable power, skew the energy market away from the most reliable, cheapest options.”