Press Releases

Today, Senate Western Caucus member Mike Lee (R-UT) delivered the Senate and Congressional Western Caucuses response to the State of the Union.  In his remarks, Senator Lee spoke about how efforts by theObama Administration to block domestic energy production and prevent the responsible use of public lands, has cut off an important supply of revenue and jobs.

Click here to watch the video

Full Transcript of Sen. Lee’s remarks:

“Hello.  I’m Senator Mike Lee of Utah.

“As the President addresses the country this evening, one question will be on the minds of most Americans: what is the President doing to improve our economy and create jobs?

“It’s a fair question.

“The past three years have seen much economic turmoil and not much progress. 

“The unemployment rate when the President took office was 7.8 percent.  It ballooned to a high of 10 percent and has slowly declined by just a point-and-a-half in more than 2 years.

“During most of that time, the unemployment rate remained stagnant around 9 percent.

“In the last three years, we have added more than $4 trillion to the national debt and recorded the three largest annual deficits in the country’s history. 

“Our debt is now larger than our entire economy thanks to Washington’s out-of-control spending.

“ Under the President’s own budget proposal, by the end of this decade we will have to pay $1 trillion per year to service that debt.  Unless we make the necessary adjustments now, our trillion-dollar annual interest payments will make it difficult for us to fund everything from national defense to Social Security.

“Upon taking office, President Obama faced tremendous challenges.  Any new president would have had a tough time making an immediate impact. 

“But after three years, we can say confidently, but sadly, that the President’s policies have made it worse.

“The President took an economic emergency and turned it into a national tragedy.

“Instead of focusing on creating jobs, President Obama by using his party’s majority in Congress to push for greater government control, more burdensome and debilitating regulations, and a failed stimulus package that lead to record-setting annual deficits. 

“The Western States, such as Utah, have felt the pain acutely.  Through a series of efforts to block domestic energy production and prevent the responsible use of public lands, the Obama Administration has cut off an important supply of revenue and jobs.

“He has placed unnecessary and unjustified moratoriums on offshore exploration for oil and gas.  He has blocked plans to look for oil in Alaska and Virginia, and has prevented the development of oil shale in Utah.

“This Administration has delayed or revoked energy development permits and used heavy-handed regulation to slow the creation of new projects. 

“Most recently, the President denied the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline. The project would create 20,000 American jobs, inject much-needed private sector capital into our economy, and increase the country’s energy security.

“However, the President has chosen to block the project as an election-year nod to his friends in the extreme left-wing of the environmentalist movement.  

“The President has also been active in locking up public lands that communities could use to improve their local economies.

“For example, the Interior Secretary recently announced the decision to withdraw nearly 1 million acres in Arizona from potential uranium mining. 

“For energy production that has long been safe and responsible, this announcement was a needless overreaction to a fictitious problem, and will cost Arizona and Utah hundreds, perhaps thousands, of good paying jobs.

“The Administration has also been busy designating new wilderness study areas that effectively block the responsible use of federal land by the citizens of that state. 

“Roughly two thirds of Utah is already owned by some part of the federal government.

“While any other owner would pay property taxes on this land to the state, the federal government does not, depriving Utah of an enormous source of income.

“In addition, Washington’s regulatory overreach also affects countless groups that want to put a small portion of land to some sort of use.

“Utahns must go to the federal government, hat in hand, and ask permission to merely dig a well, or to build a road, or to bury cable, or indeed to do virtually anything.

“Like every other state, Utah knows what is best for Utah’s land.  Congress should not support any new wilderness designations unless the proposal is first considered and approved by the legislature of the state in question.

“The Western States could be a great source of revenue and jobs for the country.  But under the President’s stewardship, we see America’s tremendous resources unutilized.

“To begin repairing our economy the President should act immediately to reduce regulations that prevent land use, delay on- and off-shore leasing, and block development of America’s domestic resources. 

“He should place a moratorium on all new wilderness study areas and institute a policy whereby he receives guidance and recommendations from state legislatures before acting to lock up public lands.

“And he should immediately reverse his decision on the Keystone XL pipeline.

“The President has very little time left to show the American people that he can be the kind of leader who will put the interests of the country before his own.  For the sake of all Americans, I hope he uses that time wisely.

“Thank you.”