Republicans take to shuttered House to demand oil drilling
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republicans Monday took to a darkened House of Representatives, in a highly unusual demand for Democratic leaders to recall Congress from its summer recess for a vote on offshore oil drilling.
Speeches by lawmakers echoed through a near-empty chamber, in protest at Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi's failure to schedule a vote on the politically sensitive measure before Congress broke up last week.
"There will be many more hours of this day and this week where our debate over energy independence will continue in a darkened chamber with no microphones and, sadly, no window to the broader American public," said Indiana congressman Mike Pence.
The efforts of the Republicans, which began after the House officially adjourned on Friday, were getting little news coverage as cameras in the chamber were turned off in line with official practice during a recess.
But the Republican leadership was attempting to get the word out to supporters through a blog, and by posting updates on the Twitter social networking site.
Another Republican congressman, Duncan Hunter of California, called on Pelosi to recall the House, which is not due back at work until early September.
"It's very important that the speaker come back, bring this House back into session, and do the responsible thing, which is to ... increase the independence of the United States with respect to petroleum.
"That means we have to drill."
The issue has become prominent on the presidential campaign trail as Democrat Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain, at a time of sky-high fuel prices, pursue a war of words on energy policy.
Obama's foes accuse him of backtracking for political gain on offshore drilling, which he has opposed but now says he would accept if it would ease political deadlock over sweeping energy reforms.
Polls suggest a clear majority of Americans support lifting a federal moratorium on drilling off the US coasts that has been in place since 1981.
In June President George W. Bush lifted executive restrictions on such exploration and called on Congress to lift its ban on drilling in the outer continental shelf.
But Democrats have dismissed the Republican calls for expanded drilling, and in an Alaskan wildlife reserve, as a sop to big oil firms and a measure that will do nothing to immediately increase supply and lower prices.
Pelosi told ABC on Sunday that the Republican protests amounted to the "war dance of the hand maidens of the oil companies."
She argued that demands for a vote on offshore drilling were a political ploy to scupper Democratic plans for a comprehensive energy bill, designed to reduce US reliance on foreign oil.
Liberal campaign group MoveOn.org condemned the protest as a "theatrical stunt" and branded the Republicans, often referred to as the Grand Old Party, as the Grand Oil Party.
