Day 6--GOP Action on Energy Continues Growing

First, it was a small group of GOP Congressmen in the House of Representatives who refused to leave the chamber when Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats adjourned for a 5-week vacation at taxpayer expense.

Then, citizens and tourists got in on the action, traveling in to the Capitol to fill the gallery to listen as GOP Representatives spoke on the importance of lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling here at home and passing a comprehensive energy plan that includes oil, wind, solar, nuclear, biofuels, and hydrogen fuel cells.

Next, the fever spread across to the Senate as Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina warned Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that unless the Democrats delete a provision to continue the drilling ban from the 2009 budget resolution, Republicans will shut down the government.

Fourth, GOP leaders sent out a memo encouraging members to come to Washington to speak on the floor concerning the importance of passing the energy bill that Nancy Pelosi has vowed to block, and to plan the future strategy of the floor revolt with former Speaker Newt Gingrich.

And now, action in the Senate is growing among GOP Senators as Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and others have asked their constituents to send in to Congress their gasoline receipts, which they will in turn present to Harry Reid to show how desperately Americans need the relief at the pump that drilling for oil here at home will provide.

House Republicans have also called the Democrats' bluff on their supposed support for oil drilling. The GOP leadership challenged such Democrats that if they indeed actually believe in 'drill here, drill now' to put it in writing.

Further, the GOP has called on the rank and file Democrats to come back to Washington from vacation if they are serious about passing a comprehensive energy bill.

So far, not a single Democrat has either put their views on drilling in writing or offered to come back to Congress to join the fight against the extremism and obstructionism of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

It is time for the citizens to demand of their Democratic Senators and Representatives that they either put up or shut up. Either they sincerely want drilling here at home to ease our dependence on foreign oil or they do not. And if they do not, they need to say so upfront and honestly.

But if they do, then they need to make it clear to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid that the Democratic leadership does not have a Nazi-stranglehold on their consciences.

Sources for this post are as follows:
Calling the Democrats' Bluff
Show Congress Your Gas Receipts
Inhofe Wants Your Gas Receipts