On the recordJune 16, 2010
Reclaiming my time for a moment, I asked Trent Frank, who is an experienced offshore driller, as we all know. I said, Trent, what kind of salaries do these guys make? He said, The ordinary laborer-- which in my day, at least, we used to call those guys roughnecks or roustabouts--$60 an hour. And the high-tech guys, the guys that can drive a drill bit down 5,000 feet under the water and another multithousands of feet and hit a 12-inch hole where this oil is coming out of, with that kind of skill, they're paid a lot more. Now the question I would have for the administration, if you take the drilling away and all those people are looking for a job to replace that income, where is the guy who developed his skills through experience at the low-paying job on a well? So maybe he's got a high school education, and he learned his job on the job. Where is he going to find $60 an hour to support his family on? It doesn't exist.
