Vitter to Obama: Louisiana Could Teach You that We Can "Drill Our Way Out" of Many Economic Woes

Press Release

U.S. Sen. David Vitter today made the following comments in reaction to President Obama's remarks that "we can't just drill our way" out of high gas prices and economic decline.

"It's absurd that the president keeps simultaneously claiming there's nothing he can do right now to fight these rising prices at the pump, while pushing retread arguments from the Jimmy Carter era," said Vitter. "Not only has he said that more drilling at home won't help reduce the pain at the pump, but he also wants to raise taxes on energy producers here while his administration gives taxpayer-backed loans to Brazilian and Colombian oil companies.

"This administration continues to ignore the readily available fact that we have more oil resources than any other country in the world; we just need the president's agencies to start issuing permits. Unless they do, I'm afraid gas prices will continue to rise, our dependence on unpredictable foreign sources of energy will increase and jobs in Louisiana's energy industry will continue to disappear overseas."

Vitter's comments came in response to news reports of remarks by the president at a hybrid vehicle technology manufacturing plant in Indiana.

Vitter recently introduced the Agency Overreach Moratorium Act, which would put a "moratorium" on overreaching federal actions that would further destroy jobs in the domestic energy industry. He has also introduced 3-D: The Domestic Jobs, Domestic Energy, and Deficit Reduction Act of 2011, which would create more than 2 million jobs, $10 trillion in economic activity and $2 trillion in federal tax receipts (conservative 30-year estimates) by unleashing America's vast domestic energy potential.

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