American Energy Solutions for Lower Costs and More American Jobs Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the distinguished gentleman from Washington for yielding and for his leadership over the years. We are going to miss him in this House, but I appreciate him leading on these energy efforts as he has over the years. I want to also thank my colleague from Nebraska (Mr. Terry), for bringing this bill forward.

This is a jobs bill, but this is also a bill about American energy security, and, Mr. Speaker, it is a bill about national security.

Let's go through each of those. First of all, this bill green-lights the Keystone pipeline. Here, you have got a bill that has been sitting on Barack Obama's desk for 6 years, Mr. Speaker, where 40,000 jobs hang in the mix, and President Obama continues to say "no.''

We are finally saying "yes'' to 40,000 American jobs, a great investment in a trading partner in Canada. We can get energy from Canada that we would no longer have to get from Middle Eastern countries who don't like us, Mr. Speaker.

What this bill also does is opens up some of those vast natural resources throughout the Outer Continental Shelf that are closed right now off the coast of places like Virginia, Alaska, and, yes, even in Louisiana, where in our State we have said those extra revenue sources--that money that would be coming into our treasury--would help us reduce the national debt, but the revenue-sharing States would also be able to play a role in that.

If a State wants to help produce energy for America, they can also help our own economy. In our State, we said we want to focus on restoring our coast, putting that buffer in place that blocks future storms.

Mr. Speaker, this also helps lower gas prices at the pumps. Families who are struggling in this tough economy because of all the radical regulations coming out of the Obama administration can finally get some relief in gas prices through that energy security, again, removing the dependence we have on Middle Eastern countries and other people who don't like us.

We dealt with and started to address the threat from groups like ISIL, Mr. Speaker. Do you know that ISIL makes over $2 million a day from the oil fields they control that funds their terrorist activities?

Let's become energy secure as a Nation and get the energy security that goes with it, the jobs that go with it and all the great access to those resources that improve our economy.

I urge adoption of the bill.

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