Republicans are getting set to shut Congress down in preparation for what they’ve dubbed “American Energy Freedom Day”, October 1st when moratoriums expire on drilling our own domestic resources, according to Fox News;
“The overwhelming majority of Republican Senators have pledged to protect October 1 as American Energy Freedom Day so we can reduce dependence on foreign oil and lower the cost of gas at the pump,” [Senator Jim] DeMint said, according to a release from his office.
“Many people aren’t aware that the bans on drilling must be renewed every year, and all we have to do is allow these prohibitions to expire on October 1. In just 50 days, Americans will have the freedom to pursue their own energy resources here at home. Our letter is very straightforward: we will actively oppose any effort to extend the bans on offshore drilling and oil shale,” DeMint said.
This is setting the stage for a showdown in September with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and most other Demorats who oppose this drilling.
In response to DeMint, Reid spokesman Jim Manley said: “Isn’t this the same day that Republicans would be endangering the delivery of Social Security checks because of their misguided attempts to promote energy policies that will do nothing to deal with the short term problems facing the country?”
Oh, you mean like how the Democrats have done nothing to deal with short term energy problems for so many years that our short term energy problems have become long term energy problems? That we wouldn’t have the short term problems if Democrats had the gumption to deal with the problems they saw looming on the horizon and instead engaged in mental masturbation.
Michelle Malkin wrote that Pelosi may be starting to collapse, probably to keep her investments in Big Wind a secret;
She gets a 10 for her flip-flop-flop yesterday on drilling. It is now no longer the “hoax” she knew.
[…]
PELOSI: I would not. It depends how the drilling is put forth. But I don’t — that is not excluded, let me say it that way. It depends how that is proposed, if the safeguards are there. Now, mind you, 68 million acres — 10 million more acres in Alaska where they can drill. But if there’s — if we can get some great things, in terms of renewable energy resources; a renewable electricity standard; wind, solar, biofuels and the rest in that context, because if you make a decision only to go with the offshore drilling, you are increasing our dependence on fossil fuels and you will never free yourself of that addiction unless you invest in the renewable energy resources that are good for the environment, cheaper for the consumer and will reverse global warming.
And the consumer is our first responsibility. The American taxpayer owns this oil offshore, by the way. Let me make this one final point. This oil is owned by the American taxpayers. The oil companies drill. We give them money to drill there. But we get very little in return.
Very little in return? You mean besides affordable energy that drives our economy? So what if we own the oil? We can all go down and bring a bucket of our oil home and look at it…or we can let the oil companies drill it, refine it, ship it to where we need it and sell it to us so we can power our economy with it. I’m not sure if she’s just that ignorant or she’s pulling the wool over the eyes of gullible masses.
And if the oil is ours, then why aren’t Pelosi and Reid listening to Americans? Rasmussen reported yesterday that 64% of Americans support drilling;
Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) support going ahead with offshore oil drilling, an issue that John McCain seized on in early June as a way to help lower gas prices and has since forced Barack Obama to at least partially agree with.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that over half (55%) agree with the Republican’s proposal to build more nuclear plants, although 32% disagree.
But Reid and Pelosi intend to stay the course and let our economy suffer (Fox News link above);
Reid and Pelosi have avoided holding votes on drilling because of growing support among their own ranks for such legislation amid rising energy prices. Democratic leadership maintains new drilling won’t change prices in the near term.
Reid and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., even cancelled markups of spending bills that renewed the moratoria, a move that was a tacit admission that there were enough votes to override Democratic opposition to drilling.
Reid has said he intends to try to renew the bans when Congress returns in September through a continuing spending resolution — a measure used to bypass the annual spending bills, and adopt the current spending levels until the new Congress takes its seat. But to pass his version, Reid will need a filibuster-breaking 60 votes, which could prove difficult.
They’re standing in the way despite the fact that the majority of Americans want drilling, a majority of Congress wants drilling – pure political manipulation to try gain a few votes in November. But it may just blow up in their stupid faces.
