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Rodriguez favors varied approach on energy
When it comes to the energy situation the U.S. faces in the future, Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas) is ready to embrace a multidimensional approach.
And that includes offshore drilling, and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
"We shouldn't be playing games, and we shouldn't be having the little stunts that we're having now," Rodriguez said Aug. 14 during a stop in Fort Stockton on a swing through the 23rd District. "I'm ready to vote on any drilling bill, whether offshore or not."
His opponent in the November election, Bexar County Commissioner Lyle Larson, had said that Rodriguez has changed his position on the issue. That's part of a political game, Rodriguez said, pointing out that Republicans in Florida have been at the forefront of preventing offshore drilling in their state's waters.
"For them to be making this an issue is ridiculous," Rodriguez said. "What we've got to be doing now is looking at all options. That includes nuclear, that includes coal, that includes drilling and renewables.
"We're under a new situation now and we need to be doing everything we can, and that includes drilling."
But Rodriguez cautioned that offshore drilling wouldn't likely yield any help for at least seven to 10 years. For more immediate relief at the pump, Rodriguez said, we need to look to legislation on price gouging by oil companies and Justice Department action against companies doing business with OPEC at prices disadvantageous to the U.S.
A release of oil from strategic reserves would also help bring down the pump price, Rodriguez said. And he said the U.S. needs to look at increasing its refinery capacity.
Regarding charges that the Democratic Party has prevented the building of new refineries in the U.S., Rodriguez said we need to look to which party has been in control of Congress and the presidency recently.
"Who's been in control? Seriously, who's been in control? We need to stop blaming people," Rodriguez said. "We need to be taking responsibility."
On the wider economy, he said there are four priorities that need to be addressed: the weak dollar, education, health care and infrastructure.
Rodriguez said that additional stimulus packages might be necessary in the future. He said that he has also been working with other members of the House on legislation specifically to help the middle class, particularly bills to aid families with children in college, assistance that allows the elderly to remain at home and help for small businesses.
"The middle class is the engine of the economy," Rodriguez said. "That's who's been basically taking the burden."
On illegal immigration, Rodriguez said that we must not allow it to remain the wedge issue it has become. He said the U.S. needs to deal with it, and in a constructive way.
Rodriguez pointed out that the numbers of illegal immigrants passing through the Del Rio and Marfa sectors are down. But he said we shouldn't be satisfied, adding that more can still be done, particularly in preventing the trafficking of drugs.
Rodriguez said we need to continue to modernize and strengthen the U.S. Coast Guard, and to continue to improve border security in counties along both the Mexican and Canadian borders.
Border security is not the only issue, however, Rodriguez said, when it comes to illegal immigration. The fact is employers need workers and Rodriguez pointed to farmer and sheep ranchers in his district who have told him that they need workers to keep their operations alive.
It's not only an agricultural issue, he said. The hospitality industry, food service and construction, among others, all depend upon a significant number of illegal immigrants to keep operating.
More visas are needed, Rodriguez said, but currently that's not a viable option.
"The will is not there," he said. "I'm hoping that in the next year or so we can come up with something. ... We need to get past this election. There's too much posturing. The issue has been politicized in a nasty way."
For the 10-15 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S., Rodriguez said there will likely need to be a compromise between doing nothing and deportation. He said such a compromise would not be amnesty, as the illegal immigrants would have to pay fines and fees to regularize their immigration status.
"When we have that compromise," Rodriguez said, "you're going to have legislation where you like parts of it and you hate parts of it. And then we move on. But I don't see that occurring until next year or the following year."
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