Today in Washington D. C. - July 7, 2008

Congress returns from its July 4th break this week to face a lot of unfinished business especially its lack of action on energy and high gas prices. Members should have heard their constituents’ growing frustration with high gas prices, but it remains to be seen whether Democrats who have continually blocked action on domestic energy production have had a change of heart. Democrats will have a chance this month to join Senate Republicans to “find more and use less” energy by supporting the Gas Price Reduction Act this month. Will they do the right thing, or will their loyalties to Greenpeace carry the day?

The Senate reconvenes at 2 PM today. The Senate will resume consideration of the housing bill (House messages to accompany H.R. 3221) with a cloture vote on agreeing with the House’s 2nd amendment scheduled for 5:30 PM. Tomorrow, the Senate resumes consideration of the FISA reform bill (H.R. 6304). Votes are expected on three amendments.

From The News: CNN poll found that 73% of those surveyed “favored an expansion of offshore drilling for oil and natural gas in protected U.S. waters.” Before Congress left town, Republicans proposed the Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008 with the goal of a narrowly-targeted proposal that could do something in the near term and reach out to our Democratics. If Democrats really care about high gas prices, they should be willing to support commonsense plans to produce more American energy.

Unfortunately, Investor’s Business Daily pointed out last week, “Democrats in Congress for nearly two decades have rejected drilling for more oil, building more refineries or developing more nuclear power.” Liberal Democrats have been out of touch with Americans’ energy needs. Perhaps that’s why so many people watched in one of last week's most viewed YouTube videos of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid proclaiming that coal and oil are “ruining our country” and “ruining our world.” [video below] Reid’s hometown paper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, commented in an editorial, “Funny thing about coal and oil. Before they began transforming Americans’ everyday lives by providing electricity and transport that didn’t require a horse, average citizens trudged though life with mouths half-full of teeth, fortunate to live past age 40. Far from making us sick, they’ve powered advances that have extended the country’s collective life expectancy to about 80, helped eliminate hard-core poverty and made us the wealthiest nation in the history of the planet.”

Harry Reid Says "Coal Makes Us Sick" Truth is -- Harry Reid Makes Most of Us Sick!

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