Today in Washington D. C. - Aug 4, 2008 - Democrats Abandon Responsibility
Congress is out on its August recess (until Sept. 8th) -- or at least the Democrats are. House Republicans on Friday started a floor protest to support the majority of the Americans who want Congress to lift the ban on drilling. The Republicans have declared their intentions to resume their protest this week. GOP Leader John Boehner wrote in a press release, “House Republicans will be back on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives again Monday to continue the unprecedented protest that began last Friday, when dozens of Republicans joined hundreds of American citizens on the House floor to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) decision to send Congress home for the rest of the summer without a vote on legislation to lower gas prices and move America toward energy independence.”
While in recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is again playing games and has scheduled pro forma sessions for the Senate during the recess, in order to prevent the president from making recess appointments. The Senate will not conduct business but it will have someone open and close the Senate on Aug. 5, Aug. 8, Aug. 12, Aug. 15, Aug. 19, Aug. 22, Aug. 29, Sept. 2 and Sept. 5. This effort is solely being used by Reid to prevent the President from appointing people to critical positions for the remaining five months until the new Congressional term begins Instead of allowing the Senate to do its responsibility, Reid continues to block Senators from voting up or down on appointment.
As Congress begins its August recess, it’s clear that the Democrats continue to feel the pressure to hold a vote on producing more American energy. Over the weekend, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) seemed flip-flop on his opposition to new offshore drilling while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) squirmed when confronted to explain her complete refusal to allow a drilling vote on the floor of the House. On Saturday, Fox News reported that Obama told the Palm Beach Post, “If, in order to get [a comprehensive energy policy] passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage - I don’t want to be so rigid that we can’t get something done.” Yet Obama quickly walked this statement back, saying, “What I will not do, and this has always been my position, is to support a plan that suggests this drilling is the answer to our energy problems,” according to CNN. Of course this puts Obama with the 30% of people, according to CNN’s own poll, opposed to new drilling.
On Sunday, Nancy Pelosi had an amazing interview with George Stephanopoulos, where Stephanopoulos asked the speaker an incredible eight times if she would allow a vote on drilling on the floor of the House. Pelosi dodged and shifted blame each time. Little wonder, then, that House Republicans have pledged to continue their protests by returning to the empty House chamber to demand a vote. Though Pelosi has turned off the lights and the cameras, Republicans will speak to the crowds touring the Capitol and millions more Americans on the Internet.
In lieu of addressing the problem of energy supplies, Democrats have tried to divert attention from the drilling issue by repeatedly putting forward a slew of bad ideas that will not produce a drop of new energy. The Wall Street Journal writes today, “The ‘windfall profits’ tax is back, with Barack Obama stumping again to apply it to a handful of big oil companies.” This time, though, Obama is suggesting that he would be taking those profits and using them to shower the populace with stimulus checks. The Journal examines the idea of “windfall profits” in its editorial today and concludes, “what constitutes an abnormal profit is entirely arbitrary. . . . [A] windfall is nothing more than a profit earned by a business that some politician dislikes. And a tax on that profit is merely a form of politically motivated expropriation.”
Today, The New York Times editors blasted the Senate for its “selfishly partisan approach to the nation’s energy challenge in the days leading up to its August recess.” Being The New York Times, the paper has little kind to say about drilling, but even its editors recognize that “most economists believe that [speculators] have little or nothing to do with oil prices.” And The Times lays into Harry Reid, writing, “The most vivid symbol of the Senate’s ineptitude was the majority leader, Harry Reid, who tried to make the best of a terrible two weeks by asking his opposite number, Mitch McConnell, to join him in an ‘energy summit’ in Las Vegas. . . . Mr. Reid has to know how silly this looks and what it really says about the Senate’s capacity for action.”
Tags: gas prices, Harry Reid, house revolt, Nancy Pelosi, oil drilling, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
While in recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is again playing games and has scheduled pro forma sessions for the Senate during the recess, in order to prevent the president from making recess appointments. The Senate will not conduct business but it will have someone open and close the Senate on Aug. 5, Aug. 8, Aug. 12, Aug. 15, Aug. 19, Aug. 22, Aug. 29, Sept. 2 and Sept. 5. This effort is solely being used by Reid to prevent the President from appointing people to critical positions for the remaining five months until the new Congressional term begins Instead of allowing the Senate to do its responsibility, Reid continues to block Senators from voting up or down on appointment.
As Congress begins its August recess, it’s clear that the Democrats continue to feel the pressure to hold a vote on producing more American energy. Over the weekend, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) seemed flip-flop on his opposition to new offshore drilling while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) squirmed when confronted to explain her complete refusal to allow a drilling vote on the floor of the House. On Saturday, Fox News reported that Obama told the Palm Beach Post, “If, in order to get [a comprehensive energy policy] passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage - I don’t want to be so rigid that we can’t get something done.” Yet Obama quickly walked this statement back, saying, “What I will not do, and this has always been my position, is to support a plan that suggests this drilling is the answer to our energy problems,” according to CNN. Of course this puts Obama with the 30% of people, according to CNN’s own poll, opposed to new drilling.
On Sunday, Nancy Pelosi had an amazing interview with George Stephanopoulos, where Stephanopoulos asked the speaker an incredible eight times if she would allow a vote on drilling on the floor of the House. Pelosi dodged and shifted blame each time. Little wonder, then, that House Republicans have pledged to continue their protests by returning to the empty House chamber to demand a vote. Though Pelosi has turned off the lights and the cameras, Republicans will speak to the crowds touring the Capitol and millions more Americans on the Internet.
In lieu of addressing the problem of energy supplies, Democrats have tried to divert attention from the drilling issue by repeatedly putting forward a slew of bad ideas that will not produce a drop of new energy. The Wall Street Journal writes today, “The ‘windfall profits’ tax is back, with Barack Obama stumping again to apply it to a handful of big oil companies.” This time, though, Obama is suggesting that he would be taking those profits and using them to shower the populace with stimulus checks. The Journal examines the idea of “windfall profits” in its editorial today and concludes, “what constitutes an abnormal profit is entirely arbitrary. . . . [A] windfall is nothing more than a profit earned by a business that some politician dislikes. And a tax on that profit is merely a form of politically motivated expropriation.”
Today, The New York Times editors blasted the Senate for its “selfishly partisan approach to the nation’s energy challenge in the days leading up to its August recess.” Being The New York Times, the paper has little kind to say about drilling, but even its editors recognize that “most economists believe that [speculators] have little or nothing to do with oil prices.” And The Times lays into Harry Reid, writing, “The most vivid symbol of the Senate’s ineptitude was the majority leader, Harry Reid, who tried to make the best of a terrible two weeks by asking his opposite number, Mitch McConnell, to join him in an ‘energy summit’ in Las Vegas. . . . Mr. Reid has to know how silly this looks and what it really says about the Senate’s capacity for action.”
Tags: gas prices, Harry Reid, house revolt, Nancy Pelosi, oil drilling, US Congress, US House, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 1:00 PM - Post Link
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