U.S. Reps. Joe Barton (R-TX) and Steve Scalise (R-LA) wrote an opinion piece titled “Develop American Resources, Create American Jobs.”
Barton and Scalise praised their colleagues in Congress for voting to lift the ban, which they said will create more jobs and boost the U.S. economy amid soaring oil production.
“Throughout the Gulf Coast region, our oil and gas industry remains the heartbeat of our economy — an amazing success story that creates good-paying jobs by providing homegrown energy to America and our allies,” Barton and Scalise said in the op-ed. “In Texas and Louisiana alone, the oil and gas industry supports well over 2 million jobs directly and indirectly, from oil patch workers to engineers, service industry workers to truck drivers, computer programmers and more.”
The congressmen also took aim at President Obama, whom they said has been holding energy policy back by opposing U.S. oil exports.
“For years, President Barack Obama has been trying to reverse these opportunities by imposing radical regulations that are rooted in a failed cap-and-trade scheme,” the congressmen said. “With these and other wrong-headed policies, the president and his administration are waging a notorious “War on Coal” that is hurting American workers and their families.
“Just this month, the president met with the leaders of other nations in Paris to pursue his global-warming agenda that will make America less competitive, kill jobs and raise costs for hard-working families. Just imagine the foolish notion that an administration that could not even properly build a website to sell health insurance policies can somehow control the earth’s temperature.”
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