Pelosi: Offshore Drilling Protest Led By "Very Small Band" Of Republicans

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is showing no signs that she is considering Republican requests for a special session to vote on offshore drilling.

In a letter to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), the Speaker reiterated her support for releasing oil from the nation's stockpile, and rebuked Republicans for blocking 13 Democratic initiatives aimed at addressing rising energy costs.

"According to the Bush Administration's own Energy Department, if we repealed the offshore drilling ban today, oil and gas production would not begin there until 2017, and impact on prices before 2030 would be "insignificant." We cannot drill our way out of this problem," Pelosi wrote. "While a very small band of your colleagues remain on the House floor to discuss gas prices, their constituents deserve to know why their representatives in Congress have failed to support serious, responsible proposals.... Americans deserve real solutions, not rhetoric," she added.

House Republicans entered their third day of protest Tuesday against Pelosi's refusal to call back lawmakers to vote on a bill allowing offshore drilling. They began Friday after Congress adjourned for the summer recess, speaking nearly six hours about energy independence before a chamber empty but for interns, staff and tourists.

House Republicans led by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) returned Monday to continue the talkathon following a memo from Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) asking Republican colleagues to "make a stand" and join the floor protest until their requests are followed.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has called the GOP effort "a transparent political effort to manufacture headlines." But Pence told CNN Tuesday that their protest is "not a stunt. It's a feat."

"Members of Congress are giving up time with their families and with their constituents, and on a rotating basis, either here on Capitol Hill, on the floor, or in front of citizens back home with energy town hall meetings, Republicans are taking the case we ought to be here, we ought to be working," Pence said. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) is scheduled to join the protest on Wednesday.