The Vice President: Good morning its my great
privilege on behalf of the President and the first
family to welcome you all to the White House this
morning for this important announcement and this
important executive action.
To secretary Ryan Zinke, Secretary Wilbur Ross,
members of the congress who are here today,
leaders all we are grateful that you are here
for this important step toward American
energy independence.
From the outset of this administration, now nearly
100 days, President Trump has been delivering on the
promises he has made to the American people.
One after another, and it all begins with
strengthening the American economy from the day after
the election President Trump has been fighting
for American jobs, Hes been slashing through a
mountain of red tape he's been ensuring that our
trade relations are beneficial to American
jobs and American workers first and only two days
ago this administration outlined the Presidents
vision for tax reform that include one of the largest
tax cuts for business and individuals in
American history.
Thanks to the Presidents leadership more then
500,000 jobs have been created in 2017 alone.
Business and consumers are more confident then
they've been in years and in some cases decades.
And energy has been a central focus of this
President and this administration
from day one.
The Presidents put focus on developing Americas
resources and strengthening our economy.
He's signed executive orders to open the way to
build the keystone and Dakota pipe line.
He's rolling back the clean power plant and the
war on coal is over under the leadership of
President Donald Trump.
(applause)
And with a stroke of his pen today
President Trump will continue to break down the
barriers standing in the way of Americas energy
future for the benefit of our economy for
generations to come.
And so I say from my heart, with great
gratitude to a leader of boundless energy, for his
dedication to American energy independence, its
my high honor and distinct privilege to introduce to
all of you, the President of the United States.
President Donald J Trump.
(applause)
The President: Thank you, Mike Pence -- a
really wonderful guy, and my great friend, and a
truly great Vice President.
He will go down as a truly great Vice President.
Many thanks to Secretaries Wilbur Ross and Ryan Zinke.
Very proud of the job they're doing.
We're also pleased to welcome many members of
Congress and energy industry leaders
to the White House.
And I want to get them immediately back over
there because I know they're going to be voting
on lots of different things, right?
So we can't spend too much time talking about
drilling in the Arctic, right?
But we're opening it up.
This is a great day for American workers and
families, and today we're unleashing American energy
and clearing the way for thousands and thousands of
high-paying American energy jobs.
Our country is blessed with incredible natural
resources, including abundant offshore oil and
natural gas reserves.
But the federal government has kept 94 percent of
these offshore areas closed for
exploration and production.
And when they say closed, they mean closed.
This deprives our country of potentially thousands
and thousands of jobs and billions of
dollars in wealth.
I pledged to take action, and today I am keeping
that promise.
This executive order starts the process of
opening offshore areas to job-creating
energy exploration.
It reverses the previous administration's
Arctic leasing ban.
So hear that: It reverses the previous
administration's Arctic leasing ban, and directs
Secretary Zinke to allow responsible development of
offshore areas that will bring revenue to our
Treasury and jobs to our workers.
(Applause.)
In addition, Secretary Zinke will be
reconsidering burdensome regulations that
slow job creation.
Finally, this order will enable better scientific
study of our offshore resources and research
that has blocked everything from happening
for far too long.
You notice it doesn't get blocked for other nations.
It only gets blocked for our nation.
Renewed offshore energy production will reduce the
cost of energy, create countless good jobs, and
make America more secure and far more energy independent.
This action is another historic step toward
future development and future -- with a future --
a real future.
And I have to say that's a real future with greater
prosperity and security for all Americans, which
is what we want.
So I'm very proud of the people standing behind me.
I'm far less proud of the people standing
in front of me.
(Laughter.)
The media.
But I have to tell you that this is a very
important day, and I want to congratulate Wilbur and
Ryan and all of the people that have worked so hard
to get this put together so quickly.
And it's going to lead to a lot of great wealth for
our country and a lot of great jobs for our
country.
So God bless America.
Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
(The executive order is signed.)
The Press: Mr. President, what's made
this job harder than you thought?
The President: We're moving awfully well.
We're getting a lot of things done.
I don't think there's ever been anything like this.
It's a false standard, 100 days, but I have to tell
you, I don't think anybody has done what we
did over the 100 days.
So we're very happy.
(Applause.)