In Texas, the oil and fuel trade has lengthy wielded an outsized political affect. Now, a brand new evaluation of marketing campaign finance information shines recent gentle on simply how important that affect is.
Texas’ two Republican U.S. Senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, have individually obtained extra marketing campaign funds from the fossil gasoline trade since 1990 than any of their colleagues within the higher chamber save one, in keeping with a report from nonpartisan watchdog group Open Secrets and techniques.
Cornyn has racked up $4,947,300 in contributions from the trade since 1990, whereas Cruz has drawn $4,796,389, Open Secrets and techniques stories. Each are amongst Washington’s most unwavering supporters of unbridled oil and fuel growth, and each have repeatedly questioned the fact of human-caused local weather change.
Solely U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who ran for president in 2008 and 2012, grabbing his get together’s nomination the second time, obtained extra from the trade over that interval. His haul totaled $8,519,708, in keeping with the report.
Open Secrets and techniques discovered that the fossil gasoline trade spent some $2.8 billion on federal lobbying from 1998 to 2023. Firms in that sector additionally commonly outspend environmental curiosity teams each on federal lobbying and marketing campaign contributions, in keeping with the group’s quantity crunching.
The report additionally exhibits that oil and fuel trade contributions have overwhelmingly flowed to Republicans, who’ve largely positioned trade income forward of efforts to restrict greenhouse emissions.
“Teams just like the American Petroleum Institute and the Koch-connected Individuals for Prosperity have taken up the mantle of defending the oil and fuel trade towards worldwide strain to reduce growth,” Open Secrets and techniques writes.
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