The article below was written by Senator Merle Flowers and appeared in the Wednesday, August 25th edition of The Commercial Appeal.  Senator Flowers wrote a guest column in support of oil and gas jobs.  Provisions in the Small Business Jobs Bill will ironically hurt small businesses. 

Guest column: Gulf states' recovery needs oil, gas jobs
By: Senator Merle Flowers (R-Olive Branch)

The federal government recently decided, despite strong pleas from the Gulf Coast states, that it is time to "stick it" to our jobs.

The impacts of the offshore drilling moratorium continue to sting, even as the Deepwater Horizon oil has ceased flowing.

Despite the capping of the BP oil disaster, we are still recovering from a recession and need jobs in Mississippi. Unfortunately, the federal government has decided to further hinder our job growth, singling out the oil and gas sector, a large state employer, for massive tax hikes that will reduce the work force and stifle any predicted future growth.

This recent move is a real slap in the face for Mississippi, especially in light of a recent Washington trip I participated in with more than 50 gulf residents, whose jobs have been greatly affected by the oil spill.

The group was diverse, from small business owners to bankers to state representatives to oil rig workers. They all came with one message: Our jobs matter.

The goal of the trip was to ensure that any new policies that come out of our nation's capital take notice of our vulnerable situation in the gulf.

We've had a rough couple of years, including both man-made and natural disasters. These have added pressure to an already strained economy and the federal government needs to ensure that they are either helping us or staying out of our way.

It appears that these calls have gone unheard and we face another disaster.

A tax incentive called a Section 199 deduction is in place for all manufacturing jobs to encourage economic growth here in America.

These factory jobs offer a variety of applicants the opportunity of steady employment and good wages. We have seen the result of the simultaneous downsizing and closure of plants in cities like Detroit, where the government has stepped in and offered taxpayers money to bail them out.

It appears that the oil and gas manufacturing jobs that many depend on in our state will not only not receive any type of bailout money, which they don't need, but they will be targeted for elimination.

A new amendment in a Small Business Jobs bill, of all things, would eliminate Section 199 jobs incentives for the oil and gas sector only, and use the money to run expanded government programs.

This is clearly a case of declaring one man's job to be more important than another's, and this must not be allowed to stand.

Repealing these incentives would give oil and gas manufacturing employers largely increased overhead costs, causing them to downsize, raise the price of their product (our energy) and in some cases they could even leave the U.S. where better tax structures exist.

The results would be broadly felt and devastating.

By increasing the cost of creating energy, this bill will increase the cost of energy. Increasing energy costs affect every family and small business that relies on affordable energy to drive a car, light and heat a house and countless other activities.

If energy prices rise, all businesses will face higher costs, as will all families, causing them to spend less.

For families, this means less disposable income, and therefore less economic activity. For businesses, higher energy bills could mean downsizing. Less economic activity would definitely mean downsizing and possibly forcing some to close.

These are the policies we went to Washington to oppose, and our cries have not been heard.

We cannot allow a Small Business Jobs bill to eliminate small business jobs in our state. We depend on our oil and gas industry jobs, but we must emphasize even more our need for affordable fuel prices.

This is not the time to enact devastating legislation that will drag our economy into the dumps, just as we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.

I am opposing tax hikes on American manufacturers and American energy, and hope that our state will see the catastrophic potential of these misguided Washington policies and oppose them as well.

Merle Flowers, R-Olive Branch, is a member of the Mississippi Senate.

 http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/aug/25/guest-column-gulf-states-recovery-needs-oil-gas/