House Update - There Is A Spine!

Just wanted to post an update to last week's battle on the floor of the House of Representatives.

To recap, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat leadership forced a vote on adjournment for a 5-week vacation (it won by a single vote) rather than take up the Republicans' proposed bill to deal with America's energy crisis. The bill would have an immediate effect on gas prices by opening up more oil drilling, nuclear power, and other effective energy measures. Pelosi knows that if a vote occurs, the bill will pass because it enjoys broad bipartisan support.

In reponse to Pelosi's shutdown of the House, several dozen Republicans (all who were still in Washington) staged their own discussion with several hundred tourists who happened to be in the viewing gallery of the House. Pelosi ordered the lights turned out, but the GOPers and tourists were not deterred, so the lights were eventually turned back on. Not surprisingly, the tourists went wild, and a wildfire of support has swept through the grass roots.

Their goal is to get either President Bush or Pelosi to call a special session of the House for a vote on this energy bill.

Today, the battle continues. Michelle Malkin posts:

“Hit hard, hit fast, hit often.”

That was the advice Marine hero Chesty Puller gave his men.

That’s the advice congressional Republicans should follow.

On Friday, GOP members led a revolt on the floor that rocked the House, energized the conservative base, humiliated the feckless Democrat majority, and brought visiting tourists to their feet cheering in the gallery. (Oh, and not coincidentally on Friday afternoon, Barack Obama followed John McCain and flip-flopped on offshore drilling. If you lead, conservatives, the flip-floppers will follow.)

While Do-Nothing Nancy Pelosi jetted off on her pathetically-performing “Know Your Power” book tour and Democrats adjourned for a five-week recess, scores of Republican congressional representatives stayed on Capitol Hill–or rushed back in shorts with suitcases still in hand — to press for votes on energy independence and drilling. Though Pelosi turned the lights out on the House floor, Republicans got their message out–via Twitter, Qik, the blogosphere, talk radio, and grumbly MSM types who derided the upstart effort as “bizarre.”

Leave it to Beltway snob journalists to call House Republicans who refuse to take vacations while the public’s business goes unfinished “bizarre.”

So, where does that leave us now? The House GOP appears to finally be displaying some full measure of spine, so it's up to American people to rally behind them. Three things:

1. call your Rep; if he or she is a Dem, demand they contact Pelosi and bring the House back to address energy; if he or she is a Rep, encourage them to participate in the rebellion if they are not already; also, if they are participating already, express your gratitude for finally standing up for the American people
2. call Pelosi's office; demand that she bring the House back in session to vote on this energy bill
3. call the White House; ask the President to call the House back for a vote on the energy bill

This is one of those times when politics meets the real world. This bill would have a real impact on the price of gas, as well as laying the foundations for energy independence in the future. We need it, and we need it now. Make these calls. I'll post updates as I find them.

There's my two cents.