Almost a week after the Democratic Majority voted to adjourn the House for a 5-week summer recess, a handful of Republican Representatives are still debating on the House floor over gas prices, off-shore drilling, and the energy crisis. When the Dem’s voted to recess last Friday morning, House Republicans staged a protest…or a stunt…or they just didn’t feel like leaving the House floor…take your pick. Continuing to fight the good fight, our poor little Republicans continue to debate – without CSPAN coverage, without cameras, without microphones, without lights sometimes…and without Nancy Pelosi! It’s like all our dreams are coming true…
The piece of legislative over which everyone is causing such a fuss, the American Energy Act, looks like a good start to solving the very real problem Americans face every day at the gas pump. Termed the “all-of-the-above” solution, the bill will, according to the House Republicans’ website:
“…will increase the supply of American-made energy, improve conservation and efficiency, and promote new and expanding energy technologies to help lower the price at the pump and reduce America’s increasingly costly and dangerous dependence on foreign sources of energy.”
Quote of the week, though, comes from this little article written about the whole ordeal:
“Leaders pledged to keep going ‘as long as it takes,’ or at least until the end of the week.”
I certainly hope that the well-being of the American people is worth more to our Congressmen than one week spent making fun of France and bashing Speaker Pelosi and the rest of her cohorts. On the flip-side, I also sincerely hope that Speaker Pelosi and her fellow Democrats won’t take too long in coming around and realizing that the American people need something done about the pain at the pump, preferably before they take their little summer vacay.
The last time someone checked to see which brave souls were still on the House floor, the following 18 Republicans were present and accounted for:
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL)
Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ)
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC)
Rep. David Davis (R-TN)
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT)
Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA)
Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT)
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA)
Rep. Ron Lewis (R-KY)
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL)
Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-MT)
Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL)
Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ)
Also, Louisiana Congressman Jim McCrery of the 4th District was still with is fellow Republicans as of Tuesday, but was not counted as present when the above role was taken on Wednesday (August 6).
The GOP Leader Blog has been live-blogging the stuffing out of the fiasco, and there are some gems of quotes amongst the entries. Check it out.
For more, stay tuned and check out the following links:
http://www.thesequitur.com/content/view/2696/43/
http://swineline.org/2008/08/04/republicans-stay-in-dc-to-demand-energy-vote/
http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0808/GOP_leaders_request_special_session.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12252.html
UPDATE: Newly elected Rep. Steve Scalise has released a statement regarding the situation…
“When Americans face a crisis, they don’t take a five-week vacation; they go to work and find solutions. That is exactly what Congress needs to do. The time to act is now. Throughout our nation’s history we’ve had many challenges and many crises, and each one we looked in the eye and dealt with here in the U.S. House of Representatives. This summer a lot of people in Louisiana and around the nation are cancelling their vacations because the price of gas is too high. However, House Speaker Pelosi thinks it is more important to take a five-week vacation rather than dealing with this national energy crisis.
Last night I held a Town Hall meeting in Mandeville Louisiana and everyone agreed that Congress should be addressing the nation’s energy crisis rather than taking a vacation. We have solutions and they are all on the table. The liberal leadership needs to come back to Washington so we can debate these solutions to our nation’s energy crisis and have a vote in the House.”