Posted on 08/03/2008 1:43:30 PM PDT by MaestroLC
Continuing with their guerilla tactics from last week, House Republicans will be back on the floor Monday to talk gas prices, even though Congress is in recess, and they may stay there all week.
More than a dozen Republicans have already committed to make appearances, according to House GOP leadership aide, including National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (Ga.).
Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and Mike Pence (R-Ind.), who lead Friday's five-hour talkathon after the House shut down for the August recess, are also expected to be there, according to this aide.
"In an urgent memo sent to GOP Members and staff Saturday (“A Call to Action on American Energy”), Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) hailed Friday’s action, which was led by Reps. Mike Pence (R-IN), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Tom Price (R-GA), and others, and encouraged House Republicans to return to the Capitol beginning Monday morning to help keep the historic effort going," said a press release just released by Minority Leader Boehner's office.
“It’s not a request we make lightly. But the American people are suffering,” Boehner and Blunt said in the memo. “The consequences of continued congressional inaction on gas prices are unacceptable. We’ve called on the Speaker to call Congress back into an emergency session this month and schedule a vote on the American Energy Act. We must continue to make a stand until the Speaker complies.”
The session will not be televised, since C-Span does not control the cameras inside the House chamber. Rather, those come under the purview of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats, and they're unlikely to do anything to help Republicans.
But Republicans felt they got a lot of good press out of Friday's "revolt," so they will be back at it again, and younger GOP lawmakers were clearly energized by the tactic, something not evident among Republicans for most of the 110th Congress.
Pelosi was grilled by host George Stephanopolous on ABC's "This Week" over her refusal to allow an offshore oil drilling vote on the floor before the House adjourned for the five-week August recess, but Pelosi was having none of it.
"What you saw in the Congress this week was the war dance of the hand maidens of the oil companies," Pelosi said. That's what you saw on the Republican side of the aisle."
Pelosi and the Democrats have pushed alternatives to more drilling, including pointing out that oil companies already have control of 68 million acres of federal land and need to search for oil there first. Democrats are also pushing renewable fuels and conservation, and they're calling on President Bush to release 700 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
You mean the Speaker of the Planet didn’t lock them out entirely? (order more popcorn)
Can these OUTSTANDING Republicans get C-Span coverage if they meet elsewhere in Washington?
If the Traitorats want to leave Congress with business still on the table I say the reps that are still there should bar the door and not let them back in when they come back from recess.
If some Dems show up will they be allowed to join in?
Bttt
Nice to see forward progess instead of the old side to side shuffle...lets hope they maintain their momentum, symbolic acts can be very powerful. Especially if we knew what the dems were doing in their 5 weeks off.
Be nice to have a pic of one of them either gassing up their car (yeah right, like they personally fill up their gov limos), or lounging in some exotic location. Either would place a nice emphasis on the point, I think.
Rep. Ted Poe did a fine on Friday!
Where have these folks been for nearly eight years?
Are they at least filming it and putting it up on youtube and other sites?
And all along I thought those buildings and what were in them belonged to the American people. This is outrageous!
Political grandstanding. They know damn well the only surefire way to reduce oil prices - stop spending money we don’t have which weakens the dollar which in turn raises the price of oil. Where was the outrage when they controlled the House but didn’t control the explosion of big government thus leading to this predicament?
First thought that popped into my head as well.
We also need the rino names who are not going along with this GOODF move — remember they are up for re-election this time round. If they don’t want to get with the program, FIRE ‘EM and elect some who will.
“Speaker of the Planet”
LOL...good one!
Wow! A whole DOZEN of them will continue their protest.
bttt
Now is not the time for to be pessimistic.
Now is the time to call your reps and get them to DC
Lampson used to be a Blue Dog but now he is a Bleu Dogmatic. He has followed Nan Pelosi and that gang just to show that he isn’t ANYTHING like the mean, evil Tom Delay.
ThX! It’s a promotion from Speaker for the Nation.. she is one shrill bird..
“Where have these folks been for nearly eight years?”
Campaigning. That’s all they take time to do anymore. There are no election ‘cycles’, it’s continuous. We don’t have elections, we just have campaigns.
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