WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to the country’s ongoing energy crisis, Congressman Dave Hobson (OH-7) today introduced a bill to lift a Congressional ban on oil and natural gas exploration and production in the Outer Continental Shelf waters between the State of Florida and Cuba. The Bolster America’s Resources through Responsible Exploratory Leasing (B.A.R.R.E.L.-H.R. 6735) bill follows President George W. Bush’s action on July 14, 2008, to lift an executive office ban on exploration and production in federal offshore waters in the Gulf of Mexico, and off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. The area where Hobson’s bill will lift the Congressional ban is located near the waters where Chinese oil companies are reportedly negotiating oil drilling lease agreements with Cuba.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives today approved $12.8 million in funding requested by Congressman Dave Hobson (OH-7) for a new Ohio National Guard (ONG) Combat Communications Training Complex at the Springfield Air National Guard Base (SANG). The new facility will replace an overcrowded and outdated building, and be used for operations, equipment maintenance, and training in support of 150 personnel from the Ohio National Guard’s 269^th Combat Communications Squadron and the 251^st Combat Communications Group. The funding was included in the Fiscal Year 2009 Military Quality of Life-Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill approved by the House today. Overall, the bill provides for $24.8 billion for military construction, and $47.7 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs.