WASHINGTON
They walk through the Capitol in cutoffs and flip-flops, but with quiet awe, gawking at the huge paintings, posing alongside the marbled statesmen, straining their necks as they look skyward to study the dome from inside the rotunda.
The thousands of tourists who visit every August typically find the place more like a mausoleum than a working seat of government. With Congress in recess, the chambers are shut, the cavernous corridors empty of lobbyists and reporters.
This year, with gasoline prices at record highs, fewer tourists seem to be making the trip. But they're getting a civics lesson and a bit of political theater as part of their pilgrimage.
A band of Republicans has opened the House chamber every weekday since the end of July for one- or two-hour "shadow sessions," designed to dramatize their call for action to boost the nation's energy supplies and lower prices. All three of Hampton Roads' GOP representatives, Thelma Drake of Norfolk, Randy Forbes of Chesapeake and Rob Wittman of West-moreland County, have taken part.
Drake and her colleagues have used the gatherings, which a House historian said appear to be unprecedented, to pound home familiar themes from the energy debate.
Oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and on the Atlantic's outer continental shelf could reduce U.S. dependence on oil-producing nations in the Middle East, the Republicans contend, if only the Democratic-controlled Congress would remove barriers to drilling.
The royalties that new drilling would generate also would provide a multibillion-dollar boost to the development of alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar power, and to energy conservation, Drake said during Friday's session. That means more jobs for Americans even if gas prices don't drop, she says.
Because the House is in recess, the Republicans have been able to bring visitors onto the floor for the sessions. Families drift in and out, sitting in the cushioned benches normally reserved for members and straining to hear speeches delivered without the aid of a microphone.
With Democrats absent, the discussion is mostly one-sided.
Democratic talking points - such as Newport News Rep. Bobby Scott's assertion at a mid-August forum that there's not enough oil off the Atlantic Coast to significantly increase world supplies - go unmentioned.
Still, there is some debate.
On Friday, one man wondered why Republicans hadn't made offshore drilling happen during the six years they controlled both Congress and the White House.
The Senate was the problem there, said Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., because its rules let a determined minority block most legislation. He didn't add that until recently, a substantial number of Republican senators, including presidential candidate John McCain, supported a moratorium on most offshore drilling.
Drake said that the Republican effort already is paying off, pointing to statements last week in which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested she might permit a floor vote on an energy bill that includes drilling provisions.
Dale Eisman, (703) 913-9872, dale.eisman@pilotonline.com
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Another anti-drilling myth debunked....
"The big oil companies bought out all the small refineries and closed them down, so they could control the flow." Pure bunk. Here are some of the smaller energy companies and refiners, some privately held, some publicly traded: Murphy, Valero, Sunoco, Koch, Anadarko, St. Mary, Occidental, Amerada-Hess, Pipeline Resources, Citation, Hilcorp, Kerr-McGee--there are too many to fully list in this space. On another note, when the Democrat Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, doesn't even know that natural gas is a fossil fuel, it's no wonder the Democrats are on the wrong side of this issue--they're just following their "leader," who, by the way, wants to "save the planet." All the while they're being chauffered around in limos and flying in private jets. I wonder when was the last time any of these people paid for their own gasoline and pumped it themselves?
Past is Past
There was no real need to drill until most recently when Oil prices sky-rocketed. The situation is here and now. So ask yourself who is reluctant to bring the cost of oil down now by drilling? The Dems. There should not be anymore hesitation about foreign oil dependence. America needs to keep prices down by drilling now while improving technology and finding alternative sources of energy.
How?
Simplyconfused... While it is true it was a Democratic Congress, don't forget that the Reagan was President! He had the power and popularity to get anything done, but chose not to. That's a mark on the Republicans in my opinion.
How?
The Republicans for taking oil money, giving tax breaks, and generally looking the other way at anyone not making 5 million per year. They never learned the lesson from the 70’s. They just let mileage standards for cars go down throughout the 80’s and did not say a word
How did they do that without holding control of Congress all through the 80s?
Both parties to blame!!!
Both Republicans and Democrats are to blame for this. Politics as usual for the party supporters to bash each other without seeing how both parties are at fault.
The Republicans for taking oil money, giving tax breaks, and generally looking the other way at anyone not making 5 million per year. They never learned the lesson from the 70’s. They just let mileage standards for cars go down throughout the 80’s and did not say a word. They obstructed efforts to increase gas mileage in the 90’s. Now, with an election coming and gas prices high, they blame the Democrats. One final fault, their “my way or the highway” approach to policy. Come on, stop showboating and negotiate to get something done!!!
The Democrats faults are many as well. Some are in the pocket of environmentalists and oppose anything to do with oil/gas/etc. Look, the environment is important, we get it, but come on, there is no way hu
Energy plan?
Republicans are drilling your head full of baloney.
Thank you for standing up
I have only words of praise for the our elected officals. You've got guts and moxy. Thank you for standing up for what is right. Nancy Pelosi could not have won the debate over drilling, so she called for a recess and turned off the lights. What a weak soicalist political stunt. The democrats are a pathetic group. Socialist are traiters to this capitalist country. They defile the very principles of what we created from.
Democrat's stick to enviromentalist special interest groups
Each and every day we are reminded just how far reaching the enviromentalist special interest groups and moveong.org have their tenticles around the throat of the democratic party. Every time one of the opens their mouth to spout more lies about Big Oil companies they are being controlled by the special interest groups that have taken over Nancy Pelosi and the main stream of the democratic Party. It is so funny how the Liberials spout off about the insane profits oil companies are making while turning their blind eye to the electronic companies which are making a profit margin of over 32% or the Actors and actresses who are making such absurd amounts for a single movie. Democrats need to get off the sour milk being provided by george sorros,Moveon.org,codepink and other enviromentilist groups and have the best interest of this country in mind and give us a realistic comprehensive enery bu
Republicans suckle the oil teet
Republicans continue to suckle the teet of Big Oil. The big oil companies bought out all the small refineries and closed them down, so they could control the flow. Now their puppets in the Republican party want to drill off the coast. But the American people are smarter than that and have started conserving gas, so the price of gas is coming down. More fuel efficient cars, algae based ethanol, solar power, and wind power are the answers to the energy crisis. As Buckminster Fuller said, "There isn't an energy crisis. There is only a crisis of ignorance."
Some ones got to work for America
While he democrat controlled Congress has done nothing more these past 2 years than rename Post Offices after their ilk and then taking a no so much deserved 5 week vacation on the tax payer time. The Republicans have stepped up to the plate to answer the call and good on them. This is a good time to get some work done for America while the democrats are busy salivating over each other in Denver.