One message I received loud and clear this election was the American people want their leaders to work together, to find common ground and to focus on bipartisan solutions to spur job creation and strengthen the economy.
U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson
This Week in Washington
I agree this is how our government should work and my colleagues in Congress and I remain committed to working with President Barack Obama to put your priorities first. Unfortunately, the president continues to threaten unilateral executive action on America’s most pressing issues, instead of working with Congress like the American people have demanded.
Despite the American peoples’ rejection of his agenda, the president continues to double down on the same tired, failed policies that expand big-government and impose more regulations. He promised to work with Congress, but a few days later announced a climate change agenda that does the exact opposite and circumvents Congress. This is neither what our economy needs nor what the American people want. In fact, a new Gallup poll released last week reports that the majority of folks trust Republicans in Congress – not President Obama – to change course and get our country back on track.
There is no doubt this war on affordable energy led by President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking our country in the wrong direction. This sweeping plan to impose drastic regulations will further decrease our ability to go after American energy and will stifle job-creation and raise utility rates, especially in North Carolina because we get around 38 percent of our energy from coal. I regularly hear concerns from individuals and families in our local community who are fed up with the steady increase in energy bills. Folks can’t afford more job-killing policies that end up costing us more of our hard-earned money. Instead, we need to get the government out of the way of American energy exploration and production.
I remain focused on an all of the above energy strategy that enables us to take advantage of our resources in a responsible way. Last week, I voted to advance construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, a critical and common-sense infrastructure project that will provide our country a reliable and secure source of oil. By growing American energy production, we will bring prices down at the pump and lower energy prices at home. This is also a project that will create jobs immediately and continue to fuel thousands more over the long-term.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that Republicans and Democrats in Congress support it, this project remains tied up in President Obama’s never-ending supply of bureaucratic red tape. For six years, anti-energy bureaucrats at the EPA have implemented roadblock after roadblock that prevent the construction of this pipeline. Despite findings from the State Department that the Keystone XL pipeline will not have a significant environmental impact and the fact that there are already thousands of miles of similar pipelines across the nation, President Obama refuses to stand up to liberal environmentalists in his party who want to see an end to American energy production. This is further proof that this administration time and again puts politics over growing the economy.
It’s not fair that Washington’s bureaucrats continue to stand in the way of solutions hard-working Americans so desperately need. We have waited long enough. This bipartisan vote to construct the Keystone XL pipeline is just another example of how serious the House is about growing our economy, spurring job-creation and securing energy independence. I hope the President will put politics aside, end his war on affordable energy and join us in our efforts. It’s time to work together to build a stronger America.
Richard Hudson, a Republican, represents the 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district includes a small part of Mecklenburg County and takes in all or parts of the counties of Cabarrus, Union, Randolph, Rowan, Davidson, Stanly, Anson, Montgomery, Richmond, Scotland and Robeson.
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