Newsbusters has a the transcript of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday’s “This Week“. George Stephanopoulos did an excellent job grilling the House Speaker, who promised during the mid term elections that she would allow for a full and fair debate on issues. Her commitment book was titled “A New Direction for America”, and one can only scratch their head in wonder as the Speaker describes what is necessary for the minority party to offer policies to the House floor, that differ from those of Queen Pelosi:

STEPHANOPOULOS: But why not allow votes on all that? When you came in as Speaker you promised in your commitment book “A New Direction for America,” let me show our viewers, you said that “Bills should generally come to the floor under a procedure that allows open, full, fair debate consisting of full amendment process that grants the Minority the right to offer its alternatives.” If they want to offer a drilling proposal, why can’t they have a vote?

PELOSI: They’ll have to use their imagination as to how they can get a vote and then they may get a vote. What I am trying to, we have serious policy issues in our country. The President of the United States has presented this but for this our economy would be booming. But for this, gas would be cheaper at the pump. It’s simply not true. Even the President himself in his statement yesterday and before then has said, there is no quick fix for this by drilling.

Pelosi and company continue repeat the mantra that drilling is not a quick fix, and for that reason alone it should not be allowed. Yet during this same interview she speaks of “saving the planet” by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, full well knowing that is not a quick fix either. It would take decades for any legislation passed in Congress today to have any effect on the CO2 concentration in our atmosphere, and that is only if we were to assume that our reductions would not be offset by increased emissions in China and India, which they most likely would.

Luckily for the 70% of Americans who believe Congress should open new lands for drilling, the Republicans have used their imagination as to how they can convince the Speaker to allow a debate, and vote on the issue. On Friday they held a protest on the House floor demanding Pelosi re-convene Congress, even going so far as to ask the President to order it. As Stop The ACLU is reporting today, Republican Leader John Boehner has asked Republicans back to the House today for a continued protest:

House Republicans will be back on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives again Monday to continue the unprecedented protest that began last Friday, when dozens of Republicans joined hundreds of American citizens on the House floor to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) decision to send Congress home for the rest of the summer without a vote on legislation to lower gas prices and move America toward energy independence.

In an urgent memo sent to GOP Members and staff Saturday (“A Call to Action on American Energy”), Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) hailed Friday’s action, which was led by Reps. Mike Pence (R-IN), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Tom Price (R-GA), and others, and encouraged House Republicans to return to the Capitol beginning Monday morning to help keep the historic effort going.

“It’s not a request we make lightly. But the American people are suffering,” Boehner and Blunt said in the memo. “The consequences of continued congressional inaction on gas prices are unacceptable. We’ve called on the Speaker to call Congress back into an emergency session this month and schedule a vote on the American Energy Act. We must continue to make a stand until the Speaker complies.”

“We realize not everyone can be in Washington next week. But if you can be, we ask that you come to the Capitol, join our colleagues, and lend your voice, beginning this Monday at 10:00 am,” the GOP leaders wrote. “If you can’t be in Washington, we ask that you contribute to the cause in other ways – such as spreading the word among your constituents, writing an op-ed for your local newspaper, or taking our ‘all of the above’ energy message to your local airwaves.”

“Republicans stand with the American people. We share their passion and determination for energy independence, and we’ve pledged to fight boldly until Congress heeds their will,” Boehner and Blunt concluded.

Apparently under the reign of Queen Nancy, you must wait until she leaves on a 5 week vacation before you can have your voice heard on the House floor. If this is Pelosi’s idea of a “New Direction” for America, I’ll pass. I prefer an America where all voices are heard, and all policies are debated on in a fair and open forum. If Nancy Pelosi believes that only policies which she is in agreement with should be allowed an up or down vote in the House, maybe she should use her vacation time to visit Cuba, I hear they may be looking for a new dictator.

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Congress, Election 2008, Energy, Features, Politics