House Republicans have spent the first quarter of 2011 rolling back the Obama Administration’s policies of the past two years. The Continuing Resolution debate is about bringing spending back to 2008 levels—Obama and Democrats raised spending 29 percent in two years. Legislation was introduced and passed to prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from backdooring cap-and-trade, prevent the Federal Communications Commission from regulating the internet, and stop the National Mediation Board from facilitating unionization in the transportation industry.
House Republicans have now set their sights on Obama’s Department of the Interior (DOI). Like keeping medicine from a sick patient, DOI has revoked drilling permits while gas prices skyrocket and the region sheds jobs. Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash) introduced a trio of bills to remedy this problem and end the defacto moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico, auction offshore leases, and lift the President’s ban on new offshore development.
Passing out of committee yesterday, these bills cannot be ratified soon enough. Due to Democrats’ inhibitory policies, in 2011 there will be no offshore lease sales—the last time this happened was 1958. By the Administration’s own estimates, their official moratorium on deepwater drilling has caused the loss of nearly 12,000 jobs—the number is surely higher. Conservative estimates predict that the Interior’s defacto moratorium on shallow water drilling will eliminate an additional 36,000 jobs over the next 18 months. Of 52 permits issued before the official ban, only 5 have been reinstated. A total of 12 rigs have already left the region, each bringing hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars of economic investment with them.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the US is endowed with 1.3 trillion barrels of oil, more than Russia and Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, American oil and natural gas producers, some of this country’s most adept job creators, cannot access our resources. Development of the Gulf would undoubtedly provide a much needed boon to the region. The American Energy Alliance predicts that permanently lifting the offshore moratoria would result in 1.2 million U.S. jobs, $8 trillion in additional economic output (GDP), $2.2 trillion in total tax receipts, and $70 billion in additional wages each year.
Scheduled to come to the House floor in May, the real challenge will be getting these bills through the senate. With 23 Democrats, many in red states, facing tough races in 2012, it is unlikely Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will let Rep. Hastings’ bills come to the floor. Nonetheless, Republicans can point to every Democratic Senator who isn’t vocally supportive of these bills and rightfully say “you are preventing $1.2 million jobs, $8 trillion in GDP…” House Republicans have revealed that supposedly “moderate Senate Democrats” are anything but, and have given Republican challengers the means to unseat them. Let’s hope they do.
Christopher Prandoni serves as a Federal Affairs Manager of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). He is also the Executive Director of the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), an organization that combats anti-worker legislation and promotes free and open markets.
