Press Release: Legal Lines with Locke Meredith
Bill Cassidy
Show # 113
Attorney, Locke Meredith, interviews United States Congressman Bill Cassidy. Congressman Cassidy is going to discuss challenges in the U.S. Congress, the National Debt, the budgeting process, and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Congressman Cassidy, currently in his first term, ran for office because he was upset about how our government was spending money. He says that because of the people, he is now seeing a shift of a focus toward less government spending, instead of more, a welcome change.
Congressman Cassidy represents District Six, which encompasses East Baton Rouge Parish and some or all of each Parish that surround it, ten parishes in all. This includes over seven hundred thousand people, which Congressman Cassidy says is quite a challenge. The Democrats in congress had a super majority last time Meredith interviewed Congressman Cassidy, but now, due to the election of Senator Scott Brown, the dynamics have changed in the Senate. This has brought the conversation back to the center, says Congressman Cassidy.
The discussion turns toward the BP Deep Water Horizon oil spill. Congressman Cassidy is on the natural resources committee, the primary committee responsible for handling this disaster. Identifiable causes were found with the spill, specifically regarding the number of braces used to construct the pipe, six instead of twenty-one. One result of the oil spill was the blanket drilling moratorium. All outer continental shelf oil drilling was halted after the spill, declared by the Obama administration, until November 30. This has had very strong negative ramifications for the state of Louisiana, explains Congressman Cassidy. Seven hundred million dollars in lost wages for workers, lost money for the businesses that service the oil rigs, and lost money for the companies themselves. In Louisiana, one energy job creates five a half more jobs. Only one hundred million dollars has been allocated in the relief fund to pay for these lost wages. Mr. Finberg is the attorney designated to allocate these funds.
Next the conversation turns toward the newly passed Clear Act. This act, originally introduced two years ago, was resurrected to address the oil spill and as a vehicle for other energy-related issues. The Clear Act results in unlimited liability for independent producers of oil. This means that independent producers, currently responsible for about three hundred thousand jobs, about fifty percent of all oil jobs in Louisiana, will have trouble continuing to operate. Congressman Cassidy explains that this act will cause America to be more dependent on OPEC nations, especially ones who are against the U.S, and cause us to be less capable of producing our own oil. In the case of a war in the Middle East, this could be devastating for the U.S. Oil rigs rent for about five hundred thousand dollars a day, and some of them are already leaving the gulf, moving to Africa, or other places.
Next the conversation turns toward the economy and national debt. Currently the national debt is about fourteen trillion dollars. Congressman Cassidy tells us that is roughly thirty to forty thousand dollars for every man woman and child in America. To add to this, our unemployment rate is currently 9.5 percent, and there is much uncertainty, Congressman Cassidy explains, in the tax and regulation future, meaning businesses are scared to expand and invest. January 1st will result in a possible expiration of the ten-year long Bush tax cuts, and Republicans are scared this will inhibit, particularly, the growth of small businesses. Small businesses produce sixty percent of American jobs.
Congressman Cassidy explains that the money spent by the Federal Government in the stimulus package is money that small businesses will have to pay back in taxes over the next ten or more years. Instead of money that the private sector can keep and spend on hiring more workers, it is money businesses will have to pay back to the government.
Here in Louisiana, Congressman Cassidy has been working to get more funding for the highways on I-10 and I-12 from Federal funds. The proper infrastructure, he feels, will help give us more economic growth. Congressman Cassidy also is interested in saving the coastlands of Louisiana, though it is not in his district.
