[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3161]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1345
                          WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

  (Mr. FLEMING asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. FLEMING. Mr. Speaker, 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?

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