[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 17, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H3448]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  (Mr. CASSIDY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. Speaker, as regards to energy, I'm an all-of-the-
above-type person. We need a diversity of energy sources. But we will 
not be carbon free for generations. Our need for plastics, fertilizers, 
lubricants, and fuels so dictates.
  So given the fact that we're not going to be carbon free, it seems 
like domestic energy production should be encouraged. If we've got to 
have something, it's better for us to buy it from ourselves, for our 
workers, for the money to stay here.
  In Louisiana alone, my home State, oil and gas production in the 
petrochemical industry employs 320,000 people. They work as welders, 
pipe-fitters, on barges, engineers. Countless small businesses with 
another 100,000 or so workers. Yet the President's budget contains at 
least eight separate tax hikes specifically targeting domestic oil and 
gas production.
  Tax hikes create uncertainty, uncertainty creates caution, and 
caution inhibits economic activity. As we seek energy security and to 
create and preserve American jobs, I have to ask why are we punishing 
the industry which contributes both?

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