Free Republic

When House Speaker Pelosi abruptly and literally turned off the lights in Congress on August 1st and sent the members on a five-week vacation, she thought she was doing something clever. C-SPAN can only broadcast Congress while Congress is in session. If there was no session, there would be no cameras to cover the debate over providing relief to American families from historically high gas prices. If there were no C-SPAN, Americans would never get to see the Speaker and the anti-energy left's stubborn refusal to lift the ban on offshore drilling, refusal to lift the ban on drilling in...

Be sure to READ THIS!!BEHOLD the Power of the People, and the Power of  Nancy: "most open, most honest, and most ethical Congress in history"Nancy: "and Democrats promise to work together in a bi-partisan way for all Americans."What is the truth about Nancy?"Madam Speaker has a substantial amount of money invested in Clean Energy Fuels Corporation." dontgo"T Boone Pickens runs CLNE, this is the company Nancy has invested in, and apparently, the push is Natural Gas, which is the focus of the $5 billion in Ca. tax money and $5 billion in fed money they are seeking."From the same article:"the...

BEHOLD the Power of the People, and the Power of   There are still only Republicans showing up in DC to fight for the people on the House Floor.Maybe the Democrats just aren't aware of what is going on? (/s) Let's give them a ring, and ask them where they are!Time to call the DEMS folks! Melt the lines!As for the Gang of 10.I had several conversations with these offices yesterday. They NEED to hear from us.WE WANT THE BOEHNER BILL!1) The House (Republican and Dem) has heard the people and know that this is the bill we want.2) The Senate...

Texas Tea Party continues The recent actions of the House Republicans—staging a revolt and refusing to leave the House for a five week vacation in protest of the Drill Nowhere Democrats—have the potential to turn the tide. Read more about it here:House GOP persists in protest of energy stalemateTo give visitors a better view, Republicans have opened the chamber floor to the public, which normally is restricted to the balcony. Although the chamber lights are dimmed, the microphones muted and the cameras shuttered, the Republicans say their message is spreading and that their populist-styled "talk-a-thons" are resonating with voters at...

There is something especially inspiring in watching democracy in action. Today, as has been the case all week, Republican Members of Congress took to the House floor to stand up for Americans who need relief from rising energy costs. Sadly, what we’ve also seen this week is democratic inaction. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Congress skipped town last week, adjourning before Republican Members had a chance to speak about their energy plan on the House floor, they walked out on Congress and essentially walked out on the needs of the American people. I cannot commend the Republican House...

Oil prices resumed their descent Friday, dropping briefly below $116 a barrel as a huge jump in the U.S. dollar and expectations of slowing global demand offset supply concerns over a sabotaged pipeline in Turkey.

Well, no sooner did I write a column envisioning it than we almost had the real thing. Last Friday, about 40 House Republicans staged a spontaneous protest on the floor of the chamber, when Speaker Nancy “Nine Percent Approval Rating” Pelosi forcibly adjourned the House for a five-week vacation to avoid taking any vote on domestic energy drilling – precisely because she would lose it. Pelosi was caught between a political rock and a hard place: Allow the vote, watch a good number of Democrats defect so as to protect themselves in an election year, and see the enviro-wacko lobby...

There’s a very odd mood among House Republicans this week. Rebelling against Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s adjournment of the House last Friday, Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind) and Tom Price (R-Ga) had a sort of Howard Beale moment. Beale, the mad newscaster in “Network," asked his audience to throw open a window and shout, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.” Pence and Price refused to leave the House floor and began the open revolt against Nancy Pelosi’s “Drill Nothing” Congress. Five days into the revolt -- as I saw yesterday in the Republican cloak room...

One Week STRONG!!!! "I sat there(on the House Floor) side by side with the American People.." Congressman Duncan Hunter (35 minutes into show)...There has never been a time in our history when this has occurred. The House is adjourned, but a demonstration from the House Memebers is taking place on the House Floor, and the American Folks are sitting in the empty seats, personally telling their stories to their Representatives, and watching speeches from the Floor in person. This is not a "Constituent Day" this is a full week of HISTORY!Call to action for today folks-CALL THE "establishment" that claims to...

As House Republicans spend their fourth day protesting a lack of action on energy prices, Freedom's Watch is taking aim at incumbent Democrats Nancy Boyda of Kansas; Don Cazayoux from Louisiana; Texan Nick Lampson; Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire; and Chris Carney of Pennsylvania. Ads against the five endangered members will try to tie them to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and drilling bans on the Outer-Continental Shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Freedom's Watch is doing what it can to protect some Republican incumbents too, targeting four Democratic challengers who look strong at the moment. Challengers to Reps. Bill Sali,...

WASHINGTON — - A Connecticut congressman took his turn Wednesday in an unusual piece of political guerrilla theater taking place on one of the most prominent stages in the country: the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Chris Shays, the lone New England Republican in the House, stood in the chamber of the recessed Congress — where the lights are low and microphones are off until the session resumes in September — and demanded that the Democratic majority come back to the Capitol and allow a debate on energy policy. More specifically, Shays and several other Republicans who...

House Republicans are gearing up to continue their revolt of Congress’ adjournment for at least the next two weeks – right up to the start of the Democratic Convention in Denver – according to a memo sent Wednesday to GOP members from Minority Leader John Boehner. “Republicans will not rest until we have an honest, up-or-down vote on the American Energy Act,” Boehner wrote. “To that end, we request that you contact the Whip’s Office and indicate any time you may have available to come to Capitol in the coming weeks. We specifically request that you indicate your availability for...

There has been much discussion (and justifiably so) the last few days regarding the energy crisis, namely the efficacy of drilling versus tire inflation.Indeed, over-inflated tires do help with fuel economy (as McCain has noted on numerous occasions), however it is no substitute for an “all of the above,” cumulative energy agenda – one combining sensible off-shore drilling, nuclear power, clean coal, wind, etc.House Democrats, evidently, have even less to offer than Obama’s “tire gauge” approach. While Democrats remain on their five-week, tax-payer funded vacations, their Republican counterparts stayed on the House floor (in the dark, thanks to Madame Speaker)...

Gingrich: GOP ready to shut government down over drillingBy Lisa Desjardins CNN Radio updated 1 hour, 26 minutes ago WASHINGTON (CNN) -- He led Republicans into government shutdowns in the 1990s, and now, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich indicates his party is seriously considering another shutdown threat to force a vote on offshore oil drilling in September. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is drawing attention to a Republican call for offshore oil drilling. House Republicans brought Gingrich to the Capitol on Wednesday, partly to revive media coverage of their speech-making protest in the chamber, now in its fourth day. The...

How Obama and the Democrats Screwed Up on Drillingby Steve Kornacki August 6, 2008 The Democrats are supposed to own the issue of energy, if only because they've mastered the art of tarring Republicans as the party of Big Oil. It's a caricature that the G.O.P., with its mocking scorn for conservation, addiction to corporate tax cuts and unkickable habit of nominating oil men for national office, has done nothing to refute. Of course, the Democrats are also (supposedly) the masters of the blown political save, experts at devising new and ever more elaborate means of snatching electoral defeat from...

House Republicans have begun Day 4 in their "Shadow Session" on gas prices, and former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) is with them. Rep. Adam Putnam (Fla.), chairman of the House Republican Conference, is with them today, making him the highest-ranking GOP leader to show up so far. Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is expected later this afternoon, and Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) will probably be here on Friday. There are some new faces among the 18 GOP members taking part in Wednesday's unofficial session, including Reps. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), David Davis (R-Tenn.), John Doolittle (R-Calif.), Ralph...

House Democrats are not just hearing about offshore drilling from Republicans who have taken over the House floor for a recess revolt; the conservative advocacy group Freedom’s Watch is going up with radio and TV advertisements against Democratic candidates in a dozen races around the country. The ads, scheduled to be aired beginning Wednesday against incumbents seeking re-election and Democrats vying for open seats, echo the theme Republicans are sounding on the floor: Democrats left town for August without allowing a vote on lifting a ban on offshore oil drilling. “No to offshore drilling. Yes to a vacation for Congress,”...

Newt Gingrich speaks on the House Floor! Republicans are not just standing strong, they are growing in number and strength. Also, the story of HOW this ALL BEGAN and the media outlets who BROKE the news, and LEAD THE CHARGE!

Blue Dog Democrats take popular, moderate-to-conservative positions in their districts, but back in Washington they play games and often side with the liberal Democratic leadership. Once in a while, some of them vote with the Republicans. But somehow enough of them stick with their party and the Democrats win. The domestic drilling issue is a good example. Lots of them say they support the concept, but because their leadership blocks legislative action, the Blue Dogs bark, but don't vote. There is a way under the House rules, however, to force a vote. It's called a "discharge petition" and requires 218...

As you know, I call Washington, DC everyday (every weekday) and I even started to do a radio show each Friday to share with folks the responses that I get. This week I called Senator Obama's office about the Global Poverty Act, and all 23 of the cosponsors- some of them 2 and 3 times. Well, on Thursday, my focus changed. On Wednesday, the House of Representatives held a vote on weather or not they would stay and debate the energy issue, or go on their scheduled vacations. In this vote, 17 Democrats sided with ALL the Republicans and voted...