Click to enlarge Background: On August 6, 2009, ten Senate Democrats sent a letter to President Obama regarding their concerns about the job-killing National Energy Tax bill. They said: “We must not engage in a self-defeating effort that displaces greenhouse gas emissions rather than reducing them and displaces U.S. jobs rather than bolstering them.” As the… Read more »

Editorial: Obama Underwrites Offshore Drilling Too bad it's not in U.S. waters. Wall Street Journal Editorial August 18, 2009 You read that headline correctly. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is financing oil exploration off Brazil. The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore… Read more »

As the trillion dollar “stimulus” bill reaches its six-month mark, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) sent the attached letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack seeking answers on how spending decisions are being made, why the promise of immediately funding projects hasn’t been kept, and what jobs have actually been… Read more »

Letter to Secretary Salazar and Secretary Vilsack on Stimulus Spending Read more »

House Natural Resources Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement today in response to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s speech on the Obama Administration’s vision for the U.S. Forest Service: “In announcing a ‘new direction and vision,’ the Administration must not lose sight of the vital role our forests play in our nation’s economy and the thousands of… Read more »

On Sunday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will travel to Zanesville, Ohio as part of the Administration’s rural America listening tour. Co-Chairs of the Rural America Solutions Group Frank Lucas (R-OK), Sam Graves (R-MO), and Doc Hastings (R-WA), released the following statement regarding Sunday’s event: “Unemployment in Ohio is higher than the… Read more »

Click here to watch Valley that Hope Forgot Sean Hannity, FOX News August 11, 2009 Hannity: Update on a story we covered back in May. The Central Valley of California was once considered the bread basket of America. But now farms all over that region have been allowed to dry up. Now why? Because of a 2-inch minnow on the endangered species list. Now, environmentalists claim that the… Read more »

Tomorrow, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will travel to Bethel, AK as part of the White House’s rural America listening tour. Co-Chairs of the Rural America Solutions Group Frank Lucas (R-OK), Sam Graves (R-MO), and Doc Hastings (R-WA),… Read more »

Today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings (WA-04) released the following statement regarding the Department of Labor’s report that the U.S. economy lost 247,000 jobs in July and the Congressional Budget Office’s report that the federal deficit topped $1.3 trillion in July for the first time in the history of our country. “14.5 million unemployed Americans need… Read more »

Will Russia Drill Off Florida's Coast? Investor's Business Daily August 05, 2009 4:20 PM PT Two Russian nuclear attack submarines have taken up positions along our East Coast in recent days, another sign of renewed assertiveness by the former communist giant. The move comes as Moscow inks a deal with the communist relic of Cuba to drill for oil we refuse to go after. The submarines… Read more »