Rand Paul: Don’t ‘punish’ Exxon or you’ll hit workers

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is making the case against White House efforts to nix billions of dollars in oil industry tax breaks by arguing that it would hurt stockholders.

“When you seek to punish Mr. Exxon Mobil, you punish the secretary who owns Exxon Mobil stock,” the freshman senator told the GOP convention in Tampa, Fla.

President Obama has sought to eliminate roughly $40 billion worth of tax breaks for fossil fuel industries over a decade, arguing that profitable oil-and-gas companies don’t need the incentives.

“Repealing fossil fuel tax preferences helps eliminate market distortions, strengthening incentives for investments in clean, renewable, and more energy efficient technologies,” the White House fiscal 2013 budget plan states.

But oil-and-gas companies have battled the plan, which has sputtered in Congress, arguing it would curb domestic energy development.

Paul’s comments echo claims by the American Petroleum Institute, a powerful oil industry lobbying group, which has highlighted pension fund investments in oil-and-gas producers and other retirement account holdings in the companies.

Paul also took aim at the Obama administration’s lack of a permit — thus far — for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring Canadian oil sands to Gulf Coast refineries.

“When you block the Keystone Pipeline, you punish the welder who works on the pipeline,” he said in his speech in Tampa.