On the recordNovember 16, 2016
Mr. President, I wish to thank Senator Vitter for his support, his kind words, and his tireless effort over his senatorial career to highlight the fact that Louisiana is losing so much land and there is something we need to do about it. I also thank Majority Leader McConnell for following through on his commitment to allow a vote on the American Energy and Conservation Act of 2016. This was introduced earlier this year by Senators Murkowski, Scott, Vitter, Tillis, Sullivan, and me. I thank each of them for their hard work. I also thank Senators Kaine and Warner for helping draft the Atlantic portion of the legislation and for cosponsoring an earlier version. As I just said, this is a bipartisan piece of legislation that uses an ``all of the above'' strategy to pursue true American energy independence. More than anything else, though, this legislation is about creating better jobs with better benefits. If there was one message we heard from this past election--if we actually listened to the American people, if we heard what they were saying, what we heard is that they want jobs that work for them, better jobs with better benefits. This helps accomplish that. For example, a study conducted by Quest Offshore Resources, Inc., projects that this legislation would incentivize the creation of 280,000 new jobs by 2035. That same study estimates $195 billion in new investments and an additional $51 billion in cumulative government revenue.…





