Thursday, September 18, 2008

'Drill Here, Drill Now!' day is Oct. 1

I'm the world's worst procrastinator. I've always believed that anything worth doing today is probably worth putting off until tomorrow. I was gonna join the Procrastinator's Club of America, but I've never got around to it. Besides, if you ignore a problem long enough, it'll away, right?

Well, that is true of one thing, one very important thing. If Congress will just heed the foreign policy advice of Ike's Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, "Don't just do something, stand there," then something real important will take care of itself on Oct. 1, just 12 short days from today.

U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint are urging Congress to do exactly nothing until then to bring about American Energy Freedom Day

In just two weeks, on Oct. 1, Americans could be celebrating American Energy Freedom Day. That's the day the bans on oil shale and offshore drilling for oil and natural gas in America will expire.

Right off American shores there are reserves estimated to hold over 20 billion barrels of oil and 97 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. And in the west, oil shale is estimated to be between 800 billion and 2 trillion barrels of oil -- that is more than three times the proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia alone.

So-called "compromise" legislation being considered in Congress would increase energy taxes and only open up a fraction of these vast reserves, while permanently banning nearly 80% of our energy resources offshore. It would be irrational in a national energy crisis to create any new ban on American energy, and that's why the best solution is for Congress to allow the current bans to expire on Oct. 1.

The so-called compromise energy bill pushed through by Nancy "Let-em-eat-cake-at-the-pump" Pelosi is already dead on arrival. The Senate has no plans to even consider it, and in the unlikely event they should pass it, President Bush has already said he will veto it. DOA Pelosi.

But Hensarling and Demint warn that Pelosi and Reid have at least one more dirty trick up their sleeves they are expected to play by Oct. 1.

It seems likely that Democrats, beholden to the radical left, will try to stop American Energy Freedom Day by sneaking a new drilling ban in a spending bill that Congress MUST pass to keep the government functioning before the current ban expires on the last day of September.

How reckless will Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid be? We've seen press reports in which they are so adamant about enacting a new bans on oil shale and offshore drilling that they have started to talk about a government shutdown. Rather than help lower the cost of gas and home energy for struggling American families, they remain beholden to left-wing environmentalists. This is a battle we shouldn't have to face, but one that we cannot shy away from.

So far, 155 Republican representatives and 39 senators have joined us in writing these Democrat leaders a letter warning them that we will oppose any attempt to extend the ban on American energy beyond Oct. 1.

Make no mistake; the upcoming energy showdown could be the most important vote we take this year.

If you believe that it is good for America to increase our dependence on foreign oil by continuing to send hundreds of billions of dollars each year to other countries to supply our oil and gas, then that is your right. But if you think we should drill here and drill now, join us in letting the Democrat leadership know that we want to celebrate Energy Freedom Day on Oct. 1. If you believe that it's time to produce American energy and lower gas prices -- stand up and tell all these Democrat leaders to step aside.

One way to support our cause is to go to our Web site and sign the online petition to Pelosi and Reid.

Nothing in Congress ever comes easy, but this actually could. All that Congress must do is cause no harm by doing absolutely nothing. For Democrats, that's easier said than done.

Oh for the good ol' days when we had a "Do Nothing Congress." As for all of us voters who are tired of pain at the pump, do something. Sign the petition. Run out in the yard and yell "I'm mad as hell and I ain't gonna take it anymore!" Vote for John McCain, Sarah Palin and the GOP.

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