[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 4, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H2933]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    PRESIDENT'S BUDGET PUTS INFRASTRUCTURE AND AMERICA AT GREAT RISK

  (Mr. FLEMING asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Speaker, I received a letter from the President of 
the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association expressing grave concern over the 
administration's budget proposal we were sent last week. Our Nation's 
oil and gas industry is not made up of the five or so Big Oil 
companies; instead, it is several thousand independent oil and natural 
gas producers. It is these companies that drill and produce the vast 
majority of oil and natural gas produced here in the United States.
  The administration's budget proposals will strip the economic 
incentives that provide the investment capital that is needed to 
explore and produce oil and gas for our country. Without these 
incentives, exploration and production of oil and natural gas will 
drastically decline, trillions of dollars will be lost, tens of 
thousands of jobs will be lost, and our Nation's energy security will 
be severely threatened.
  In my home State of Louisiana, 25 percent of the Nation's energy is 
produced. We are the heartbeat of our Nation's energy infrastructure. 
Simply put, the administration's budget proposals will put that 
infrastructure and our country at great risk and drive up home 
utilities and gas at the pump.

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