Press Releases

House Passes Bipartisan Bill to Require the Administration to Move Forward on American Energy Production

Today, the House passed H.R. 1231, the Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act, with a bipartisan vote of 243 to 179. U.S. Congressman Bill Flores (R-Texas) released the following statement regarding the House vote on H.R. 1231, which will require the Obama Administration to expand access to areas that contain the most oil and natural gas reserves:

“At a time when unemployment lingers around 9 percent and high gas prices squeeze the budgets of families and small businesses, the Obama Administration has continued to actively block and delay American energy production and forced our country to sit idly by with vast taxpayer-owned resources untapped. Since President Obama took office, the national average price of gasoline has more than doubled to nearly $4 per gallon in most states. The energy policies of the Obama Administration have resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil production each day; and according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, offshore oil production is expected to drop 13 percent in 2011.

“However, it isn’t too late to change our country’s course of action and begin to undo the damage that has been done by these nonsensical policies. I applaud the House for passing H.R. 1231, the Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act, which is the latest of three bills introduced as part of the American Energy Initiative. Through this legislation we will end the Obama Administration’s offshoredrilling moratorium, increase American energy production and reduce foreign imports by nearly one-third. This bill will also spur the creation of 250,000 jobs short-term and 1.2 million jobs long-term around the country. And according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), enacting H.R. 1231 would increase receipts to the Federal treasury by about $800 million over the next 10 years. This important legislation will require the Obama Administration to expand access to areas that contain the most oil and natural gas reserves, which will signal to the world markets that America is serious about producing more energy and help to bring down gas prices.”

 To watch video of Congressman Flores discussing H.R. 1231 on the House floor, click here.

For more information on what House Republicans are doing as a part of the House Energy Action Team (HEAT) to increase American energy production, help address rising gas prices and create new jobs, click here. 

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