Rep. McCotter Calls Bush 'Beijing George' For Rejecting Request

August 6, 2008 5:30 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - House Policy Committee Chairman Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) has accused President George W. Bush of giving more attention to his trip to the Beijing Olympics than supporting the Republican floor protest, according to The Hill.

In a memo, McCotter called the President "Beijing George" Bush and "wildly unpopular."

Bush "boarded Air Force One bound for the Beijing Olympics and a meeting with his chum Hu Jintao, the dapper ruler of a nuclear armed, communist dictatorship. ... Perhaps our Compassionate Conservative-in-Chief will bring our absent Democrat Congress some 'Made in (communist) China' souvenir t-shirts: 'Bush went to Beijing and all I got was this lousy five week, paid vacation,' " the lawmaker wrote.

House Republicans began making speeches about energy independence on Friday before an empty chamber to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) refusal to hold a special session for a vote on offshore drilling.

They sent a letter to the President the same day asking him to exercise his Article 2 power and call an emergency session of Congress. One of the signatories, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), told Fox that the last time a President did so was in 1948, and that "It is much more routine for the Congress to be called back into session by the Speaker."

Drilling for oil in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is prohibited by a legislative ban adopted in 1981 and an executive order issued by former President George H.W. Bush in 1990. President Bush lifted the executive order early last month.

Pelosi argues that expanding coastal exploration would affect oil prices after a decade at the least, and only by 2 cents. She wants the government to authorize a drawdown of oil from the nation's stockpile.

Asked to comment about McCotter's memo, White House spokesman Tony Fratto has told the Hill, "Let me be very clear: we support what the House Republicans are doing. They are doing the right thing by shining a light on this issue. There should be no mistake about that. Unfortunately, simply calling Congress into session isn't going to guarantee that Speaker Pelosi will give a vote on the bill."