House GOP Asks Every Democratic Congressman To Support Protest

Washington, D.C.(AHN) - House Republicans sent letters on Thursday asking every Democratic congressman to join their protest against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) refusal to hold a special session and allow a vote on offshore drilling.

"Right now, the biggest challenge facing most American families is the price of energy," the letter from Republicans read. "But on August 1st Speaker Nancy Pelosi adjourned the House of Representatives for a five-week vacation, continuing to ignore this crisis. Americans rightly expect more from us as their elected representatives."

"If you agree that Congress should not be taking a five-week vacation until we address the energy crisis, will you join us in publicly calling on Speaker Pelosi to reconvene the House and allow a vote on increasing American-made energy?," they added.

House Republicans continued to their floor protest for the fifth day on Thursday. They began last Friday just after Congress adjourned for its summer recess. Their speeches before the empty chamber have been filled with vitriol against Pelosi, who has argued that oil companies should first drill in the 68 million acres of current leases and that the government should release oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve (SRP).

Republicans maintain that ending the ban on exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) would help stem rising energy costs. Drilling in these areas, however, is banned by a 1981 legislative moratorium and a 1990 executive order.

President George W. Bush lifted the executive order in July, a month after he called on Congress to allow drilling in the OCS.

Former Majority Chief Deputy Whip Robert Walker joined Republican colleagues on the floor on Thursday, a day after former Speaker Newt Gingrich visited the Capitol to lend his support.