On the recordMarch 11, 2010
Where are the jobs? Our Nation's unemployment rate continues to hover around 10 percent and 36,000 more Americans lost their jobs last month; yet, once again, the current administration is failing to listen. Despite public opinion 2-1 supporting opening new areas of the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling, the administration announced last week that it would discard the 2010-2015 lease plan for new development on the Outer Continental Shelf and wait until 2012 to put a new plan in place. This decision flies in the face of the bipartisan action in 2008 lifting the decades-long ban on energy development on 500 million acres on the Outer Continental Shelf, and it certainly goes against the idea of energy independence and lower energy costs. As the number one producer of oil and number two producer of natural gas in this country, we in Louisiana know that energy development means good-paying jobs. It has been estimated that the 500 million acres, when producing, would provide 1.2 million new jobs and contribute $273 billion annually to our gross domestic product. Where are the jobs, Mr. Speaker?
