Americans Want To Produce More Energy - Today in Washington D. C. - Aug 7, 2008 #dontgo

House Republicans are expected to continue their floor protest today and through the rest of the week. We hope they many of their collegues will return and continue it even longer. Not only Republicans, but American's object to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to close down debate in the House and leave town without holding a vote on legislation to lower gas prices.

The editors at National Review Online in a must-read editorial yesterday blasted Democrats for being “on the wrong side of the of the most important issue to Americans right now” and urging Republicans to “keep applying pressure” on oil exploration. The editors write,

“Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid find themselves on the wrong side of
the drilling question, and it has thrown their party into disarray. All three
Democrats are tangled on the same tripwire: Their friends in the environmental
movement want to stop oil exploration. Unlike most politicians, who face public
outcry when gas gets pricey, environmental groups are willing to argue that gas
should to be more expensive in order to make alternative sources of energy seem
cost-efficient by comparison.”

Appearing on The Dennis Miller Show yesterday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was critical of this attitude, saying,

“For years they actually thought that high gas prices were a good idea.
Most liberals have always thought that gas tax increases were a good idea and
high-price gas was a good idea, thereby just forcing less consumption. Of
course, that is a very, very elitist notion. Unless you’re fortunate
enough to live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and can run downstairs and
get on the subway, most Americans depend on their automobiles to get their kids
to school, to get to work, and to get to the grocery store.”

Today, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) notes,

“From my travels across this state, it is clear that Minnesotans are united in
the belief that any solution to our nation’s energy crisis that doesn’t produce
a single drop more of oil is half-hearted. . . . I believe the most effective
way to lower prices is to increase supply while lowering demand – it’s basic
economics. The great news is that America is blessed with the tools to affect
both supply and demand, if Congress would just act to unlock the nation’s energy
potential. . . . Not only did Democratic leaders block a vote on my
amendment, but they went so far as to object to drilling even if gas were to
reach $10 a gallon. How high do prices have to get before producing more becomes
a viable option?”

Democrats seem content to sit back and try to wait out the outcry from their constituents to produce more American energy. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told The Hill reporters on a conference call yesterday, “maybe, in a month, I’ll let everyone, kind of, cool down and approach it [energy] a little differently than we have in the past.” Reid may be dismissive of calls for increasing domestic energy supplies, but Americans are not about to cool down on such a critical issue. Witness the success of the Don’t Go Movement, where people are cheering on House Republicans to keep up the pressure on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to come back to Washington and allow a vote on more oil drilling.

As NRO says, “It’s time to keep applying pressure.”

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