It is officially safe to say that there is a direct correlation between gas prices and anger. As the former rises the latter follows suit. According to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, 62% of Americans favor more drilling and 72% believe rising gasoline prices are the biggest short-term problem for the U.S. economy.
Also enraged these days are Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. The source of the Senate and House Majority Leaders’ fury, however, is not over the price at the pump. In fact, the way these two have been acting lately leads one to believe that the two Democrats actually prefer $4.11 per gallon.
Ironically enough, Reid and Pelosi are all up in a dither over the fact that American voters are irritated with Congress and—shockingly enough—are actually demanding that Congress do something.
How dare the American voters.
It is becoming clearer by the day that one surefire way to ease the cost at the pump—until realistic and dependable long-term alternative energy sources are discovered and perfected—is to allow American companies to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and offshore sites.
Nevertheless, As House Minority Leader John Boehner said in an International Herald Tribune article yesterday:
“Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are standing in the way of what the American people want.”
Appropriately enough, the drilling issue is quickly transcending party lines. The aforementioned article points out that leaders of the Blue Dog coalition—a group of moderate, fiscally conservative Democrats—are openly calling for drilling in ANWR and off the United States coast. These Democrats, many of whom were elected in conservative districts, are beginning to see the light.
And when so many Americans are so clearly angry at government for doing nothing about soaring energy costs—indeed standing in the way of increased energy production—elected officials are obligated to listen and to remove the restrictions on more drilling. The only listening Reid and Pelosi want Congress to do, however, is to their baseless, environmentalist ranting. As Pelosi inaccurately claims:
“The president of the United States, with gas at $4 a gallon because of his failed energy policies, is now trying to say that is because I couldn’t drill offshore…That is not the cause, and I am not going to let him get away with it.”
The defecting Blue Dogs won’t get away with it either—that is, of course, if Democrats win big in the upcoming elections this fall. By urging her more conservative-leaning counterparts to support the ban against drilling both offshore and in ANWR, Pelosi is essentially commanding them to ignore their constituents. Along these lines, Mr. Boehner said the following:
“I think Speaker Pelosi is walking her Blue Dogs and other vulnerable Democrats off a cliff and they know it.”
Any Blue Dog who follows Pelosi’s lead will have to answer to their voters—many of whom would just as easily vote for a pro-drilling Republican.
An alert distributed to the online community by Mr. Boehner’s office proposed that Pelosi and Reid may be simply stalling on the urgent drilling issue in an attempt to run out the clock until the Congress’ August recess. Knowing that an up-or-down vote would undoubtedly end unfavorably for them, the Senate and House Majority Leaders are doing all they can to make sure such votes never occur.
Now is the time for Republicans and Democrats to break free from Pelosi and Reid’s senseless stranglehold on drilling and listen to the will of the American people. Just last week, Mr. Boehner released an excellent “All of the Above” plan to help alleviate the energy concerns both now and in the long-term.
His cause—now embraced by the Blue Dogs—is picking up steam. One can only hope the majority of Congress will swallow their pride and go along with it.
