Sen. Mary Landrieu supports Vitter hold on Fish and Wildlife nominee to spur drilling permits

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said Wednesday she approves of the hold Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has placed on the nomination of Daniel Ashe, President Barack Obama's nominee to head the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, until the Interior Department begins permitting deep water drilling. "I support Sen. Vitter's hold on the confirmation of a new director for the Fish and Wildlife Service until the Interior Department issues new deepwater permits. This is certainly a prerogative that senators have and one I have exercised in the past on this issue," said Landrieu, who last fall held the nomination of Jacob Lew to head the Office of Management and Budget for two months to protest the administration's moratorium on deepwater drilling and what she and other Louisiana lawmakers have come to call the de facto moratorium that followed. "Louisiana's congressional delegation will continue to apply pressure on the administration to end what amounts to an ongoing moratorium on oil and gas drilling that is costing Louisiana thousands of jobs, killing our economy in South Louisiana and is jeopardizing national security," Landrieu said...more