[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 100 (Wednesday, June 30, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          INTRODUCING THE GULF CORPS CONSERVATION ACT OF 2010

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                         HON. ALCEE L. HASTINGS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 29, 2010

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the 
Gulf Coast Conservation Corps Act of 2010, which will help to create 
jobs in the Gulf Coast region. The program will assist those who have 
been unemployed due to the oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico that took 
place on April 20, 2010. In a program similar to the Civil Conservation 
Corps created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great 
Depression, the Gulf Coast Conservation Corps will be a public-private 
partnership benefiting our nation for years to come.
  We find our country in much the same position as it was when 
President Roosevelt created his Corps. Then, there was a staggering 
number of unemployed who went to work to conserve our national parks. 
Today, it is a devastated Gulf Coast. Even before the oil spill, the 
region was suffering under extraordinary unemployment levels. The 
tourist industry contributed 620,000 jobs and over $9 billion in wages 
to the Gulf region. The fishing industry supports over 200,000 jobs 
with related economic activity of $5.5 billion. With so much of the 
federal waters unavailable for fishing and so many tourists cancelling 
planned vacations, the need is dire and we must get people back to 
work.
  The Corps will provide workers with the means, training and knowledge 
they need to alleviate the worst environmental disaster in the history 
of our country. These are not ``make work'' jobs. The work is not 
``busy work.'' The cleaning and restoration of the Gulf is not 
optional. And because it will likely take years to finish, it is 
imperative that we have the necessary resources in place to ensure that 
it is completed. Participants will do the necessary work to get the 
Gulf Coast back on track. The Corps will be a committed labor force, 
performing the hard work that will move the United States beyond this 
environmental disaster.
  As President Roosevelt said, ``All work undertaken should be useful--
not just for a day, or a year, but useful in the sense that it affords 
permanent improvement in living conditions or that it creates future 
new wealth for the Nation.''
  Madam Speaker, the work of Gulf Coast Conservation Corps is, to say 
the least, useful. I urge my colleagues to support this vitally 
important piece of legislation.

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