- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has opposed offshore drilling for two decades in Congress.
Posted on 08/01/2008 7:48:37 AM PDT by SmithL
For weeks, pressure has been mounting in Congress to approve more domestic oil drilling, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has held the line, using her power to block a vote on offshore drilling.
President Bush has made almost daily calls for Democratic leaders to take action. House GOP leaders, citing a new poll showing that a slim majority of Californians now favor offshore drilling, issued a release Thursday saying "even (Pelosi's) own California neighbors oppose her efforts to block new drilling far off American coasts." GOP lawmakers are so disgruntled they're urging Bush to deny Congress its August break by calling a special session on energy.
Even some Democrats are getting antsy, fearing the party's stance could hurt them in the fall elections. But Pelosi, who has opposed offshore drilling throughout her two decades in Congress, insists opening new areas to drilling won't lower gas prices in the short term. She believes a vote would only help the GOP blame Democrats for high gas prices.
"I will not ... give the administration an excuse for its failure," Pelosi said at an end-of-session roundtable interview Thursday.
Republicans have put a bull's-eye on the federal moratorium on coastal drilling, which has kept most of the East and West coasts off limits to new oil rigs since 1982. Bush announced earlier this month that he would lift the presidential moratorium on drilling, and the GOP is now seeking to lift the congressional ban.
Pelosi drew derision from her critics for telling the Web site Politico this week that she was blocking a vote on offshore drilling because "I'm trying to save the planet." But she elaborated on that theme Thursday, saying she sees energy independence and fighting global warming as "my flagship issue." She said she will use her power to resist...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has opposed offshore drilling for two decades in Congress.
Nancy Pelosi is deeply disturbed!
Thank you, Great Queen Bee, for the gift of a campaign issue for this upcoming election cycle.
And, this same person will not accept calls or emails from non district citizens.
I wish someone would shoot her up with so much botox that she wouldn’t be able to talk.
Just another millionaire liberal who is out of touch with the people who make this country work.
Nancy Pelosi is a failed hoax.
Politics = “Give me what I want and I’ll give you what you want”.
Calling the congress back sure as hell would not hurt the Republicans running for office as they are supposed to have their butts kicked anyway.
I think it would be a big disadvantage to Democrats to be called back to do the job were paying for them to do.
Buy my book or else!!!!!
Instead of drilling, we should use Nancy’s face to scare the oil out of the ground. Of course there would be the hazard of her voice causing the oil to combust. This would be the end of life on Earth as we know it.
Never Mind.
These people work for US. Bring out the debate and vote on it G*d Dam*it!!!!!!
Bush needs to force these bas*tards to stay in session to discuss this.
This is the most DO NOTHING Congress that has been in existence in my existence.
It’s not just the drilling issue. She also won’t allow a vote on Columbian Free Trade agreement, that would bring jobs to us and at the same time support an ally.
Drilling will bring in new jobs.
The democrats are purely political. They’re there to discuss and vote on issues that are brought up by the president and fellow members.
It makes no sense to BLOCK a vote on anything.
What the h*ll is this, a Monarchy? She’s acting like some queen.
Bush’s standing in my eyes would climb 1000% if he did that.
Let’s all pray that he has the courage and the will to do this. He certainly would have our support.
The stupid pills are working nicely.
You can even cut back the dose to one every two hours, if you'd like.
I think she need a good drilling to loosen her up a bit what a miserable human being she makes the Mountauk Monster look cute
President Bill Clinton veto's legislation the open ANWR to drilling 1996.
I really enjoy paying an extra $2.00 or more per gallon for gasoline I buy! (/sarc)
They mean what America wants.
Pelosi is a raving maniac who will put all of the domestic auto manufacturers out of business. GM posted a $15.5 billion loss today. I wonder what she and the Dems will say to all their union supporters as they line up for the bread lines. What a worthless POS.
Congress needs to get off its Butt-tocks- Forest Gump..
Who the hell does this woman think she is?
She’s trying to save this planet.
What arrogance.
In defense of Nancy, she is representing her constituency - the hard left of San Francisco. These are the “fantasyland” people of a physically beautiful city. They sit on top of Nob and Russian Hills, sipping their lattes and pontificating and how to solve the world’s problems, even if it means that millions are hurt.
But while they think they epitomize the libertarian ideal of “do what you want and no one has the right to interfere,” they of course have taken it to the level where one group’s right have infringed on the rights of others. Their moral outrage at cars and pollution (I grew up in SF - you should hear these people), results in everyone outside of SF suffering. I have not been back.
another reason Obama and all Liber Democrats must not be allowed to run the United States legislative/executive branch!
And always done with some sleight of hand “parliamentary” trick or rule change. Never straight forward business.
Title should be: Pelosi blocks offshore drilling that COUNTRY wants.
Do it. Do whatever you have to do to make this election a national referendum on the "do nothing, good for nothing" DEMOCRAT CONTROLLED Congress.
Congress has a 9% approval rating and falling. Most voters probably don't even realize that the Democrats have controlled both houses of Congress since 1996.
Every Republican running for any office in the US needs to stop referring to Obama and start consistently referring to "Pelosi, Reid & Obama" as if they were one amorphous blob of liberal slime.
It has been a long decade.
Wait a minute. It’s one thing to represent your contituency, it’s another to perform the duties of Speaker of the House.
We had control of Congress and we squandered it.
One thing the GOP MUST do is to always refer to Congress as "The Democrat Congress". We should never refer to Congress without the word "Democrat".
A significant number of people honestly don't know that Congress is currently under Democrat control! ...so their horrible approval rating is hurting the GOP too, and it shouldn't be.
Democrat Congress: Repeat as necessary.
2 choices you can use her email address for non-constituents
AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
or when you call you can fib and say you live in zip code 94102
San Francisco, CA - (415) 556-4862
Washington, DC - (202) 225-4965
And WHEN you call or write, be sure to tell Shrieker Pelosi’s phone wenches that you are joining up with ‘Californians for Sheehan’ to oust Pelousy’s ass outta that plush office of hers.
Yet another fabrication from Ms. Pelosi. On July 11, President Bush talked about lifting the ban on offshore drilling and within minutes, the price of oil had dropped about $9 per barrel. It has since dropped more than $20 per barrel and its still falling. Imagine what the price would do if we openly committed to developing our own oil resources.
See, Nancy, its not just the oil supply that influences prices but the prospective oil supply. You know, those nasty speculators you rail against? If they see that more oil is coming in the near future, they will lower their price predictions and the price of oil will drop long before a drop of new oil hits the market.
But then, this isn't really about oil prices, is it? Its all about winning an election. Prolong the people's suffering for short term political gain. Blind hatred will do that to you.
“that a slim majority of Californians now favor offshore drilling”
Yes, its a slim margin of only 75% favoring offshore drilling!
If it is going to take 10 years, shouldn't we get started? Drill here, drill now, pay less |
There. Fixed it.
How about if he calls a special session for the week prior to the Dem convention, and then tells them they can't leave without passing an energy bill?
It has since dropped more than $20 per barrel and its still falling.
Imagine what the price would do if we openly committed to developing our own oil resources.
Can you imagine what would happen when the first off shore rig struck oil, the first rig in ANWR hit pay dirt or we complete the first new refinery in 32 years?
That would deeply sadden Nancy because it would effect our billfolds, our national financial markets and our national security.
She wants to play politics with all of the above for her party's gain.
This is a great headline. It assigns blame for gas prices to the democrats, right where it belongs. My concern is they will make some sort of bogus gesture toward drilling just before Congress adjourns, in hopes of further confusing the electorate about democrat policies.
When the price of gas goes up, blame the democrats.
Nancy Pelosi is a failed hoax.”
Pelosi also hires illegals at her family restaurants.
They sit on top of Nob and Russian Hills, sipping their lattes and pontificating ...””
Do the math:
If you are paying $3 for an 8 ounce cup of fancy coffee, that is a cost of $48 per gallon. If the cup of coffee costs $4, then the gallon price is $64/gallon.
Guess if you can pay $48/gallon for coffee, the $5 gasoline isn’t a problem?????
Pelosi has the right to do that. She owns all the oil off the coast doesn’t she? Or do the people of this country own the oil? Who is she that she can tell anyone they can’t drill? That oil belongs to us..........or, she can let China drill for it.
She wants to play politics with all of the above for her party’s gain.”
I think her party is the Communist Party.
But she's totally IN TOUCH with her constituency.
If Nancy were to allow a vote on off-shore drilling, she would be un-elected, with certainty, this November.
It's only a matter of time before she is over-ridden by "moderate" dims and I am certain there is conspiracy afoot in the dim ranks right now.
When they come back from recess, there will be enuff dim votes to join with the GOP to FORCE a vote.
Excellent observation.
Yes, she is. Here's a comment to the article on SFGate.com that epitomizes liberal thinking on the issue:
Previous comment: "Wow! This is why the regular "flyover states" don't identify with liberals at all! They need their cars to get to work because they don't live in NY or LA and, believe me, they don't want to."
sf_liberal: They chose not to develop sustainable communities. Again, not my fault. Why should I have to suffer for their lack of vision? If they want to drill, then drill on their own crappy land, not on my beautiful coasts.
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