Free Republic

The House introduced new energy legislation late last night. Finally…right? The House also wants to bring the 290-page bill, which can be found here, to the floor today. You think the 435 Members in the House of Representatives are going to meticulously read all 290 pages? A bill that makes fundamental changes to thousands of pages of earlier energy bills as well as the tax code. Please. This isn’t Harry Potter. You can’t just cruise through something as complex as energy policy in one short night. It’s true that Congress should craft an energy policy as expeditiously as possible to...

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., joined a group of senators Thursday in a letter asking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to allow the Oct. 1, 2008, expiration of current bans on American energy exploration and production. The letter was authored by U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. In addition to DeMint and Corker, the letter is signed by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and 36 other Republican senators. "We need a balanced approach that will allow us to produce more energy here at home and use less, with a strong emphasis on conservation as we move...

Congressional Republicans are poised to shut down the government if they are not allowed a vote on new oil drilling legislation. This comes even as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated she could budge on allowing a drilling vote, which so far she and her Senate counterpart have blocked from seeing daylight in Congress.Current bans on the Outer Continental Shelf and oil shale drilling expire on the first day of the coming fiscal year: Oct. 1. Now, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., is leading a group of GOP senators celebrating the day, which they have dubbed "American Energy Freedom Day.""The overwhelming majority...

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - As the House GOP began the eighth day of its offshore drilling protest on Tuesday, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) led a petition asking the Senate leadership let the ban on drilling expire on Oct. 1.Republicans want to lift the legislative ban on coastal exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). President George W. Bush already lifted a 1990 executive order last month prohibiting drilling.The legislative moratorium expires on the first day of October, a day DeMint calls "American Energy Freedom Day.""We strongly encourage you to allow the expiration of...