Pelosi Still Playing Politics With Americans Pocket Books

Nancy Pelosi continues the obstruction of the people's congress by claiming yesterday that she would consider letting energy legislation reach the floor of the house with pre-conditions. According to The Hill, Pelosi's "conditions" include releasing strategic petroleum reserves, (SPR), which is reserved for national economic disasters, again looking for a quick fix for political gain that does nothing to promote our long term energy shortage.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday night dropped her staunch opposition to a vote on offshore oil drilling in the House. Republicans, reacting to high gas prices, have demanded a vote on additional oil exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf, where drilling is currently blocked by a moratorium. Until now, Pelosi (D-Calif.) has resisted the idea as a “hoax.” But in an interview on CNN’s Larry King Live, she indicated that she was open to a vote.

“They have this thing that says drill offshore in the protected areas,” Pelosi said. “We can do that. We can have a vote on that.”

She indicated such a vote would have to be part of a larger package that included other policies, like releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which she said could bring down prices in a matter of days.

“But it has to be part of something that says we want to bring immediate relief to the public and is not just a hoax on them,” Pelosi continued.........LINK

Last week Pelosi adjourned the House, (and took a five week vacation), without allowing any energy legislation to reach the floor. Apparently, she's feeling some heat at home in her comfortable surroundings, while the rest of the nation, (gripping for a winter of high heating oil prices), wait impatiently for the Democrats in both the House and the Senate to get serious about the shortage. As you can see by the chart above, our "new direction" congress that took over the majority in 2006 has done little to prevent this nations dependence on foreign oil while the price has skyrocketed because of global demand.

As of July 15, 2008, the current inventory in the STR was 707.2 million barrels. This equates to 33 days of oil at current daily US consumption levels of 21 million barrels a day. The Speaker of the House is dangerously willing to gamble with these reserves for purely short term political gain. Perhaps in November she can take a more permanent vacation with this reckless view.