Station:  KENN 1390

Show:  The Painful Truth

Guest:  Tipton

Link:  http: //www.kennradio.com/

Date:  10/19/2011

Topics:  Occupy Wall Street, Energy and Education Act of 2011, Obama Administration Working in the Private Sector

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OSBORN: Congressman Scott Tipton, good morning. Welcome to the Painful Truth.

TIPTON: Thanks Sean. I appreciate you having me on.

OSBORN: Hey, can you call Al Gore for me?

TIPTON: I don’t think he would answer.

OSBORN: Come on, you’re my Congressman. You got to go to bat for me. I need a job man.  Hey Scott, you got some ground breaking legislation that I think is worthy of a little bit of air time. I appreciate you coming on this morning because you actually have a plan to, oh my gosh, put people to work and educate them at the same time.

TIPTON: We are really excited about this; it’s called the Energy and Education Act of 2011. What we are looking at, one of the big problems Sean, as you know, facing our states across the country is the ability to be able to fund education. Right behind or above that in many cases is being able to fund Medicaid. It will eventually drain the coffers of every state.  We were looking at the opportunity to be able to create a win-win situation with the Energy and Education Act of 2011. And what we will do it, its got two components:  First component is we will use as a baseline the previous years revenues of royalties for the federal government off of federal leases and once that is exceeded we will attach to the federal royalty portion, we will take 33 percent to give directly to the state without strings attached for education. An additional 17 percent of the federal royalty will be distributed around the rest of the states; the second component of it is called new authority leasing. That is primarily going to be in the coastal areas of the country within the continental United States to be able to access this. But that money will go from the very beginning, 33 percent of the federal royalties to the education of the effected states and an additional 17 percent to be distributed out to all other states for education as well. So it does have the component of being able to address something that is facing us all and is very important to every one of us-that’s education, our ability to fund it. It’s going to stimulate new jobs, get Americans back to work, and help address energy certainty in this country.

OSBORN: So like I said, it’s a real plan, not just a bunch of campaign drill slogans and platitudes.

TIPTON: No, it really isn’t. We are only trying to lay out a pathway. If we follow this plan and are able to institute this, it’s going to be a win-win. We are going to be able to get people back to work. We are going to be able to provide education to our states. And I think one thing that is very important to me is that we have a very heavy top down hand coming out of Washington, that they know best. We look at education, I have faith in our local teachers, our parents, our local school boards, our state, far more than I have faith in Washington.

OSBORN: Right.

TIPTON: Lets empower our state, our communities, our teachers, our schools be able to make the decisions that are necessary and make the calls to be able to educate our children.

OSBORN: Scott, since we are talking about education, I don’t have a problem with there being a federal standard. Hey, an eight grader needs to know A, B and C. What pains me about this is it’s no longer education, its indoctrination. We are so worried about being politically correct in the classroom and our kids are suffering. And this is the future generations of this county. We are doing a woefully bad job of educating them.

TIPTON: I think a lot of that stems…I agree with you. I think an over-arching standard from the federal government, we want our children to be able to read and write in this day and age. Be computer literate as well, that’s fine. But the multitude of regulations which are pushed on our state and the requirements that we have to be able to fill are not allowing our teachers the ability to teach. My wife is a retired schoolteacher and visiting with active schoolteachers now, they love what they do. They want to be able to teach children but they have to be able to comply with a lot of regulations and a lot of paperwork they have to do. Lets let teachers teach. Lets free them up and bring that power back to our state instead of leaving it with the federal government.

OSBORN: I think most people are going to be on board with the education part of it. I have a feeling you’re going to run into some resistance in Washington with the domestic energy production side of this bill. Just based on what I have heard this president and a lot of the leading Democrats on the hill say, these people are adamantly against producing our own energy it seems.

TIPTON: There probably will be. We have a track record right now, I was just able to get out of the full Natural Resources Committee; meaning that the bill will head to the floor for a vote. A hydroelectric bill, clean energy. In fact I have bi-partisan support. I support the all of the above concept. But part of that concept is also being able to responsible develop the natural resources we have in the state:  coal, oil, natural gas, and oil shale. There are going to be very important for America’s energy future as we continue to see problems in the Middle East. We’ve got a struggling economy right now. If all of a sudden you see that gulf oil not being taken out of the middle east and we wont be able to access it and the rest of the world as well, we’ve got a real problem. We wont be able to fix this overnight, but we have to be moving forward. We can develop this energy responsibly and make sure that we are making those win-win scenarios. And getting Americans back to work. If we are going to be investing dollars rather than sending loan guarantees to Brazil to be able to drill off their shores. Lets invest those same dollars right here on American soil, create American jobs and put Americans back to work. Use American energy resources and control our own destiny.

OSBORN:   Why doesn’t this president do that? He could be reelected next year Scott by a landslide if he would just pull his head out of his collective backside and say we’ve got it here, lets stop sending that half trillion a year over to the Middle East. Lets not worry about whether or not they are going to shut our oil off, we have it here. We could put people back to work for the next twenty years in this country by doing it. What is the disconnect that is occurring in Washington on this?

TIPTON: I think that is a question that only the President can answer. Because we have the information we see that we can develop resources right here on our soil. I am very concerned and I know you are and your listeners are as well because we are all living that life. We are worrying about our jobs. We are worried about being able to provide for our family. I am talking to mothers that are concerned about how they are going to pay their bills for the new school clothes that they had to purchase for their children. Lets create jobs in this country. Lets develop our energy resources because if we are talking about shovel ready jobs that are out there, we can do that through the energy industry in this country. When we are going out and drill, we want to make sure we meet all the regulatory compliance to do it safely. To be able to protect the environment. We all agree with that. But if that is the case, lets put those people to work, lets quite dragging our feet, America needs the energy but we need those jobs now. We’ve got to get our people back to work.

OSBORN: What is your take on these Occupy Protestors around the country?

TIPTON:  You know, it’s curious. I haven’t been able to listen and real frankly there hasn’t been a cohesive message coming out from the Occupy Wall Street protests that you are hearing. I have listened to a couple interviews and yea some people that are there that express the frustrations that we all feel. The economy isn’t working. We’ve got to get America back to work and they are worried about their future. You have others that seem to be going to the extreme left and an area redistributing not wealth but income. If you are working we want your money, we are down here protesting. And so there is a real mixed bag of issues that are there. Really I think it is an indictment of President Obama’s economic policy when we are looking at that frustration.

OSBORN: Oh absolutely. He has had almost three years to get it right and the clinical definition of insanity; he keeps trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

TIPTON: I think we will continue to see this frustration at multiple levels. I was in Durango yesterday and I visited with county commissioners. There is a frustration with people there in terms of wanting to create economic opportunity and they are seeing government regulations that are inhibiting it. We are really seeing vividly demonstrated right now a president and his administration that has not worked in the private sector.

OSBORN: Ever.

TIPTON: They do not understand what real job creation out of the private sector does to the economy and how to stimulate it. And the way to stimulate really is to create certainty, get government out of the way, access to capitol. And we’ve got such a convoluted tax code right now. I am visiting with businesses and they said we don’t know what to do and as a result we can’t act because we don’t know what the government is going to be demanding of us.

OSBORN: There are definitely some problems we could be working on but we are out there fighting the platitudes and campaign slogans and nothing is getting done.

TIPTON:   You are exactly right. And what we are hoping is not only with the hydroelectric bill that I put forward but this Education and Energy Act of 2011; we are trying to be solutions orientated. It is that important. This is not a political game.  This is about getting people back to work and getting our economy moving and being able to provide for our children. It is that important.

OSBORN: Amen. Let me ask you…I know you are busy, but let me ask you one final question.  Do you have anyone you like in the GOP field on the presidential side yet or are you sitting back and just kind of watching and waiting to see?

TIPTON: Real honestly, I have only got to listen to a snippet of one debate and I think we have a great field of candidates right now. And I think that the fervor you are starting to see right now, they see a very vulnerable sitting president. I have listened to Romney. I have listened to Cain. I think Cain, the simplicity of his 999 Plan, we can certainly hear people detractors pointing out things that need to be discussed and vetted out a bit more but I think we have several good candidates right now. I have always liked Gingrich, he is a great idea guy as well in terms of his thoughts.  We’ll see how it plays out.

OSBORN: Right, it’s still early in the process. I mean the first primaries are still a couple months away. But I’m like you. I’m just watching and I have some favorites but I am not willing to through my hat behind anyone just yet.

TIPTON: I think it is. What are we a year and a month way from the election? So there is a long time to go.

OSBORN: Exactly. Are you still in Colorado or are you back in Washington?

TIPTON: I will be in Colorado all this week. I am in Cortez today. I am going to be going over and visiting with Southwest Open High School here this morning and then I am going to be down with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Then up to Glenwood Springs and up to Steamboat Springs, we are putting up two separate job fairs.   We are excited about that; we want to be able to put some on here in Southwest Colorado as well. We have some businesses that are hiring and we are going to be able to try and connect people that are out of work and get them an opportunity to be able to get a job. Then I will be back over into Denver for some meetings and then I believe down to Pueblo and ultimately fly back out to Washington next week.

OSBORN: You are doing everywhere you represent in Colorado world tour this week.

TIPTON: We virtually circle the state every week we are back.

OSBORN: I love it. Congressman Scott Tipton, always great to hear from you. You are welcome on the show anytime. I appreciate what you are doing for us out there in DC. Keep it up my friend.

TIPTON: Thanks a lot Sean, thanks for having me on.

OSBORN: Not a problem. It’s the Painful Truth. I like him.