I was asked to give the Republican Address this week and wanted to share the text with you in place of my regular report from Congress. 

As we enter the third month of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, we continue to learn more and more disturbing information about gross negligence on the part of BP -- and about some proposals from the Obama Administration that will do more harm than good.     

From the Oval Office Tuesday night, President Obama attempted to recover from a widespread perception that he has not made this crisis a priority.  The public outcry about the President’s inattention has been loud and it has been bi-partisan. I’m glad President Obama is finally putting this catastrophe at the top of his agenda, but his response has been too slow.  He was slow in listening to state and local leaders, slow in getting skimmers to the Gulf, slow in understanding the seriousness of this crisis, and slow in taking ownership and responsibility for the recovery.  Many of his actions have actually taken us in the wrong direction. 

Earlier this week the President came to the Gulf Coast.  After visiting with him in Mississippi, I was optimistic that he was removing politics from this disaster and focusing solely on fixing the problem. Republicans in Congress and at the state level looked forward to participating in a bipartisan, non-political solution to the many challenges this disaster has brought.  Unfortunately, we were disappointed.  In less than a day, we were reminded of Rahm Emanuel’s theory of never letting a good crisis go to waste. 

In his speech Tuesday night, President Obama made it clear that he intends to exploit this crisis to push his liberal agenda for a cap and tax scheme.  This is a disservice not only to the victims and their families but also to the millions of Gulf Coast residents who are struggling in the wake of the spill.

Americans increasingly reject the cap and tax proposal because it would drive up the cost of energy and force American jobs overseas.  The President spent more than a third of his address advocating this national energy tax, revealing his true priorities.  Now is not the time to push a controversial, job-killing, partisan agenda through Congress.  In addition to devastating our economy, this proposal would do nothing to fix the disastrous leak or clean up our beaches, marshes, and waters. 

Another idea that takes us in the wrong direction is the Democratic plan to increase oil cleanup fees and raid those funds to pay for unrelated programs. These funds are needed to clean up spills, not to satisfy Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi’s desire to raise federal spending.

In addition, the administration’s moratorium on deepwater drilling has the potential to become the third wave of this disaster.  If left in place, the moratorium will permanently eliminate thousands of jobs and drive up the cost of energy for all Americans.  You don’t have to take my word for it.  Earlier this week democratic strategist James Carville said the moratorium was “wrecking the economy” of the Gulf Coast.

Along with the spill’s devastation to our fisheries and the administration’s decision to halt our drilling, one of the greatest threats to the economy of the Gulf Coast is the loss of tourism.  Our hotels and restaurants have seen business decrease by as much as 70%.  At a brief press conference on Monday, President Obama pointed out that there are a lot of beaches that are not affected and will not be affected.  I was hoping the President would make this important point to the larger audience Tuesday night, but since he didn’t, I’ll say it again.  The vast majority of Gulf Coast beaches are clear, beautiful and safe.

BP CEO Tony Hayward recently said he wanted his life back and later correctly apologized.  BP put dollars before safety, and we are all paying the price.  We have been told that BP will be held accountable and pay all damages.

But what we in the Gulf states really need is to have our way of life back.  We want our jobs back, our economy back, and we need our tourists back.  So please come and visit us.  You deserve a vacation, and we could use the business.  Thank you. 
 
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