GOP Senate candidate: To boost energy production, elect Republicans

Alaska Republican Senate Candidate Dan Sullivan criticized President Obama and Senate Democrats on Saturday for stifling domestic energy production, warning that a failure to take full advantage of American resources is "costing us high-paying jobs."

"The Obama-Reid agenda has locked up America's natural resources, burdened small businesses throughout the country with an avalanche of regulations and suffocated job growth through a complete disrespect for the rule of law," Sullivan, who was the state's attorney general under former Gov. Sarah Palin, said in the weekly Republican address.

"What our friends on the other side of the aisle don't understand is that none of this is helpful," he added. "We all lose when the federal government stifles responsible resource development - it means fewer jobs, less revenue, higher energy costs and a diminished manufacturing ability to grow our economy."

Alaska is among the most energy-rich states in the country. In 2013, excluding offshore drilling, the state produced 0.5 million barrels of crude oil per day - the fourth highest total in the country, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Sullivan called for "new leadership" in Washington to clear regulatory roadblocks and expand the development of domestic resources. A Republican Senate, he said, would approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline to transfer crude oil from Canadian tar sands to refineries on the U.S. gulf coast. That project has been in limbo for years, and Republicans have consistently criticized the president for failing to quickly approve it.

Republicans would also authorize more offshore oil development, Sullivan said, and they would open new areas in Alaska, like the Arctic Coastal Plain, to energy production.

Sullivan is challenging Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, in the general election. Although Alaska leans heavily Republican, Begich has kept the race competitive by maintaining a healthy distance from the president, who's none too popular in the state. A Rasmussen poll released last month, for example, found Sullivan ahead by only two points, 47 to 45 percent, a result within the survey's margin of error. Republicans need a net gain of six seats to take control of the Senate.

Begich was dealt a black eye this week, though, when he was forced to pull a controversial ad accusing Sullivan of granting lenient sentences to sex offenders. The ad said one of those sex offenders was responsible for a double murder and rape, but after the victims' families cried foul and the claim was deemed false by several media organizations, Begich's team stopped running it.

The controversy gave Sullivan an opening to attack Begich for seeking political gain from a tragedy, and according to the Associated Press, it prompted national Republican leaders to give Sullivan's campaign another look after they'd begun considering shifting national party resources to other states.

In the weekly address from the White House on Saturday, Vice President Biden sat in for Mr. Obama, touting a number of proposals to rejuvenate the middle class.

"It's time to close tax loopholes so we can reduce the deficit, and invest in rebuilding America -- our bridges, our ports, our highways, rails, providing good jobs," he said.

Biden also urged companies to invest in their workers' wages, and he said it's "long past due" for Congress to increase the federal minimum wage.