Thirty percent of the Nation’s energy comes off the gulf coast.

As we embrace the American dream and the freedoms it represents, we must also ensure that those who wish to enjoy those freedoms become a part of our society and learn to speak our language.

Police officials routinely execute search warrants on private homes and offices, and Congressional offices should not be treated any differently. There cannot be one set of rules for elected officials and another set of rules for everyone else.

Members of Congress must live according to the same laws as everyone else.

When a law enforcement officer apprehends an illegal immigrant, it makes no sense to simply release that individual who has been breaking our laws with no threat of sanction or penalty.

Congress did a good thing back in 1995 in passing the Deep Water Royalty Relief Act. That act did a simple thing. It provided automatic royalty relief for new leases for 5 years in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

We should increase our development of alternative fuels, taking advantage of renewable resources, like using corn and sugar to produce ethanol or soybeans to produce biodiesel.

We need to break our dependency on foreign sources of oil, which leaves us at the mercy of foreign powers. To do that, we should increase domestic energy production.

You can look at that by comparing Medicare’s growth rates to the private insurance world, to the other Federal programs that we run, by looking at the billions of dollars, not millions but billions of dollars, we waste every year.

In my home State of Louisiana, several institutions of higher education have been impacted by both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, literally dozens across the entire State.

In the aftermath of September 11th, it is critical to secure our borders.

Thirty percent of the Nation’s energy comes off the gulf coast.

The threat of terrorism is great and with today’s porous borders, someone could bring a biological weapon into our country or sneak a dirty bomb across unmanned portions of our borders.

Our culture, language, history, and values are vital to uniting us as a nation.

India, in particular, is looking to develop nuclear power for domestic, commercial use, and we should work with them. This is a good deal for both countries.

When I ran for Congress I promised to help make health care affordable again.

Louisiana loses 30 miles a year off our coast. We lost 100 miles last year off our coast thanks to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We have lost a size of land equivalent to the entire state of Rhode Island.

The shell fishing industry represents a major part of Louisiana’s economy.

The recent riots in France demonstrate the problem European countries face where second and third generation immigrants still do not consider themselves French, German, or English.

Finally, we should help developing nations like China and India curb their exponentially increasing consumption of oil and natural gas, which is driving world prices higher.

Anybody who spends time off of Louisiana’s shores can recognize that these oysters are not endangered. To classify them as such risks great harm to not only fishermen who make their living collecting oysters in the Gulf, but also to Louisiana’s economy in total.

On Thanksgiving I will stop to give thanks that my family is safe and healthy, especially because I realize that, following the tragedies of this year, it is all too real a possibility that they might not have been.

Unfortunately, we are finding the bureaucratic inefficiencies and red tape have a tendency to slow the efforts of individuals and communities working to rebuild.

As everyone in Louisiana knows, there was often no communication or coordination between the state and federal government in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

First, we must stop issuing drivers’ licenses to people in our country illegally. Providing them with forms of government identification makes a mockery of our laws and undermines national security efforts.

My background is in health care.

The Nation needs to take a new approach to our energy problems.