Blog: Support for Offshore Drilling

Statement

Blog: Support for Offshore Drilling

I support President Obama's decision to open offshore oil drilling to American firms. The decision will create thousands of jobs and expand domestic oil production so that we can become less dependent on foreign oil imports. The President has broken another campaign promise, but in this case it is a promise we should be happy to see him break.

Expanding offshore oil production will not, however, solve our energy problems. We are already "energy independent" in most sectors, but in transportation we still depend on foreign oil. The time has come for the U.S. to move towards alternatives to traditional gasoline, such as flex-fuel plug-in hybrid cars, which are well within technological reach.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky has criticized the President. I believe that criticism is misplaced, unless the President's decision is just an attempt to pander to special interest groups in the hope that they will support his misguided cap-and-trade legislation. That bill--which Rep. Schakowsky supports--is bad for both the economy and the environment.

I am willing to give President Obama the benefit of the doubt, and to applaud him on occasions such as these, when he makes the right decision for our economy and our national security. The people of the 9th district want a representative who can work with people from across the spectrum on issues of joint concern, and that is what I will do.

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