Month: January 2021

Wisconsin GOP Congressional Delegation: Keystone XL Letter to Biden

Biden Administration

From: WisPolitics.com

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Congressmen Glenn Grothman (WI-06), Mike Gallagher (WI-08), Bryan Steil (WI-01), Tom Tiffany (WI-07) and Scott Fitzgerald (WI-05) sent a letter to President Joe Biden expressing their support for completion of the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Keystone XL pipeline would transport 830,000 barrels of oil per day, support 11,000 U.S. jobs and lower the price of gas at the pump. TC Energy, the company responsible for operating the pipeline, has also pledged that the Keystone XL pipeline would be carbon-neutral by the year 2023. Despite this, and pushback from Jason Kenney, Premier of the Canadian province of Alberta where the pipeline begins, Biden has chosen to abandon the project and these benefits.

The Keystone pipeline system is currently made up of four phases that have been completed in steps since 2010, phase 1, 2, 3a and 3b. Construction of the final phase, commonly known as Keystone XL, was halted by the Obama administration, restarted by the Trump administration and will be again shut down by the Biden administration.

“Joe Biden ran his campaign with the promise to govern as a moderate, but he has broken that promise on the first day of his Presidency with the radical step of shutting down construction of the Keystone XL pipeline,” said Grothman. “With the stroke of his pen, he has stifled 11,000 high-paying jobs, further reduced the amount of oil imported into the U.S. and has cancelled the hope of gas prices going down at the pump. This is a sad day for working Americans and a sad day for those who believed they voted for a moderate President.”

“The Keystone pipeline would support thousands of good-paying jobs and generate billions of dollars in economy activity,” said Rep. Gallagher. “Halting construction of this project not only hurts our economy, but undermines American energy independence and drives up costs for working-class Americans. This is a step in the wrong direction and I urge the Biden Administration to reconsider.”

“So much for unifying the American people. In his first hours in office, President Biden has destroyed thousands of good-paying jobs, including many in Wisconsin, by halting the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. This construction project would help grow jobs in Wisconsin and support our communities. Instead of working to create family-supporting jobs, Biden is spending his first day eliminating jobs,” said Steil.

“President Biden’s decision to rip up the Keystone permit on the first day of his term is a rejection of bipartisanship, a slap in the face to Wisconsin employers and workers who rely on this project for their livelihoods, and our friends in Canada, particularly their indigenous community,” said Rep. Tom Tiffany. “The president is putting American energy security and thousands of family-wage jobs at risk at a time when we can least afford it.”

“The coronavirus pandemic has devastated our economy and countless Americans have been put out of work by onerous mandated shutdowns. President Biden has an opportunity to signal that access to good-paying jobs is truly a priority for his administration, by reconsidering his decision to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline,” said Fitzgerald.

Trump Administration Accomplishments – Unprecedented Economic Boom

Trump Administration

As of January 2021

Trump Administration Accomplishments

Unprecedented Economic Boom

Before the China Virus invaded our shores, we built the world’s most prosperous economy.

    • America gained 7 million new jobs – more than three times government experts’ projections.
    • Middle-Class family income increased nearly $6,000 – more than five times the gains during the entire previous administration.
    • The unemployment rate reached 3.5 percent, the lowest in a half-century.

  • Achieved 40 months in a row with more job openings than job-hirings.
  • More Americans reported being employed than ever before – nearly 160 million.
  • Jobless claims hit a nearly 50-year low.
  • The number of people claiming unemployment insurance as a share of the population hit its lowest on record.
  • Incomes rose in every single metro area in the United States for the first time in nearly 3 decades.

Delivered a future of greater promise and opportunity for citizens of all backgrounds.

  • Unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and those without a high school diploma all reached record lows.
  • Unemployment for women hit its lowest rate in nearly 70 years.
  • Lifted nearly 7 million people off of food stamps.
  • Poverty rates for African Americans and Hispanic Americans reached record lows.
  • Income inequality fell for two straight years, and by the largest amount in over a decade.
  • The bottom 50 percent of American households saw a 40 percent increase in net worth.
  • Wages rose fastest for low-income and blue collar workers – a 16 percent pay increase.
  • African American homeownership increased from 41.7 percent to 46.4 percent.

Brought jobs, factories, and industries back to the USA.

  • Created more than 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs.
  • Put in place policies to bring back supply chains from overseas.
  • Small business optimism broke a 35-year old record in 2018.

Hit record stock market numbers and record 401ks.

  • The DOW closed above 20,000 for the first time in 2017 and topped 30,000 in 2020.
  • The S&P 500 and NASDAQ have repeatedly notched record highs

Rebuilding and investing in rural America.

  • Signed an Executive Order on Modernizing the Regulatory Framework for Agricultural Biotechnology Products, which is bringing innovative new technologies to market in American farming and agriculture.
  • Strengthened America’s rural economy by investing over $1.3 billion through the Agriculture Department’s ReConnect Program to bring high-speed broadband infrastructure to rural America.

Achieved a record-setting economic comeback by rejecting blanket lockdowns.

  • An October 2020 Gallup survey found 56 percent of Americans said they were better off during a pandemic than four years prior.
  • During the third quarter of 2020, the economy grew at a rate of 33.1 percent – the most rapid GDP growth ever recorded.
  • Since coronavirus lockdowns ended, the economy has added back over 12 million jobs, more than half the jobs lost.
  • Jobs have been recovered 23 times faster than the previous administration’s recovery.
  • Unemployment fell to 6.7 percent in December, from a pandemic peak of 14.7 percent in April – beating expectations of well over 10 percent unemployment through the end of 2020.
  • Under the previous administration, it took 49 months for the unemployment rate to fall from 10 percent to under 7 percent compared to just 3 months for the Trump Administration.
  • Since April, the Hispanic unemployment rate has fallen by 9.6 percent, Asian-American unemployment by 8.6 percent, and Black American unemployment by 6.8 percent.
  • 80 percent of small businesses are now open, up from just 53 percent in April.
    Small business confidence hit a new high.
  • Homebuilder confidence reached an all-time high, and home sales hit their highest reading since December 2006.
  • Manufacturing optimism nearly doubled.
  • Household net worth rose $7.4 trillion in Q2 2020 to $112 trillion, an all-time high.
  • Home prices hit an all-time record high.
  • The United States rejected crippling lockdowns that crush the economy and inflict countless public health harms and instead safely reopened its economy.
  • Business confidence is higher in America than in any other G7 or European Union country.
    Stabilized America’s financial markets with the establishment of a number of Treasury Department supported facilities at the Federal Reserve.