By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Congressman Spencer Bachus released a press statement about removing government barriers to job creation. In remarks to a group in Shelby County Rep. Bachus said, the federal government needs to “let companies compete” by eliminating barriers to job creation.
One example cited by the Congressman from Vestavia is the Keystone Pipeline which has been tabled indefinitely while President Obama reviews the project. The pipeline would carry oil pumped from Canadian oil sands to American refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Texas. Construction of the pipeline is being bitterly opposed by a coalition of environmental groups who oppose continuing the United States’ oil based economy. Congressman Bachus said, “At a time when we are too dependent on oil from the Middle East, the Keystone pipeline would supply the U.S. with as many as one million barrels of oil a day from a faithful friend (Canada). Now we are learning that if our government continues to delay the project, the oil and jobs could very well end up being shipped to China instead. It is time for the President to act in the national interest and approve the construction of the pipeline.”
Rep. Bachus said that “excessive federal regulations and misguided energy policies are making it harder for employers to create the jobs needed to boost the economy.”
Congressman Bachus also cited the Obama administration’s unilateral decision to regulate carbon dioxide after the administration’s global warming regulations were bogged down in the U.S. Senate. Rep Bachus said that he has voted for legislation which would put those new EPA regulations on hold for a more in depth review. Rep. Bachus said that implementation of those regulations would directly jeopardize Alabama jobs at cement plants in Ragland, Leeds, and Calera.
Rep. Bachus said that “The federal government needs to stop making it so hard for our private sector to create jobs.”
Representative Bachus’s remarks were made in Columbiana while speaking to the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce, as well as mayors and community leaders at a luncheon meeting.
Congressman Bachus faces stiff competition for reelection in the March 13 Republican Primary from Gardendale conservative Alabama State Senator Scott Beason. Also running for Bachus’s Sixth Congressional District seat are Al Mickle and Stan Cooke, who ran against Bachus two years ago.
This is Congressman Bachus’s tenth term in the United States Congress. Rep. Bachus is the Chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee.
