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Rep. Virginia Foxx

Mr. Speaker, unemployment is still at an all-time high; and the high cost of energy is having a significant negative impact on my district's economy as well as on the economy of the entire country.

But when President Obama had the opportunity to help job creation and lower energy costs, he turned his back on hardworking American taxpayers. And as my colleague from Mississippi has just spelled out, we have just seen the highest energy costs ever in this country last year, and the cost of gasoline itself has more than doubled under this President.

President Obama has done all he can to stand in the way of businesses that can help get Americans back to work. The Keystone XL pipeline is a $7 billion private sector infrastructure project that will create 20,000 jobs with its construction and an estimated 100,000 indirect jobs during the life of its operation.

For the 3 years that President Obama has been in office, he's delayed this project for political benefit in order to placate his liberal base. Liberals who oppose this project say that these jobs are ``temporary'' and somehow of less value. This is not just misguided, but insulting. All construction jobs, by their essence, are temporary. No construction project is permanent. It's a dangerous precedent these groups are setting by denigrating hardworking Americans for the type of work they perform.

The President is in full campaign mode. He's more interested in protecting his job than allowing the private sector to create jobs.

Mr. Speaker, we cannot continue to import energy from Middle Eastern countries. North American energy will lead to energy security, lower energy costs, and more jobs for Americans.