Congressman McCaul: "Don't Settle for $3.60 a Gallon"

AUSTIN – On his way back to Washington, following a five week August recess that Speaker Nancy Pelosi called without allowing a vote that would lower gas prices, Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX 10) continued to bring attention to the need for America’s energy independence. On Saturday he handed out cards with Speaker Pelosi’s contact information to people across his district and asked them to call her to demand an immediate vote on comprehensive energy legislation when she gavels the House to order Monday.

"Nancy Pelosi has not budged from her position of no drilling," Congressman McCaul said. "Maybe people in California don’t mind paying through the nose for gas. But families in the 10th District of Texas are fed up and she needs to hear from them."

"My message to Pelosi is ‘let us vote’. The message to my constituents is ‘call Nancy’.

>Congressman McCaul spent the first week of the August recess gathering gas receipts and messages from angry drivers across his district. He took the receipts and messages to Pelosi’s office and read several of them aloud on the House floor in protest of Pelosi’s decision to recess without a vote while drivers paid near-record prices for fuel.

"When we return to Washington Monday I want Speaker Pelosi to hear the same message that I have heard in the five weeks I’ve been traveling my district: Let us drill and let us drill now. Let us take control of our own energy supply and lower gas prices," Rep. McCaul said.

>After peaking at $4.14 per gallon in June, gas prices are still up 58% since Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007. Since that time Speaker Pelosi has called for votes on such issues as:
• Congratulated the UC-Santa Barbara Soccer Team
• National Passport Month
• Commended the Houston Dynamo Soccer Team
• National Train Day
• Great Cats and Rare Canids Act
• International Year of Sanitation
• Monkey Safety Week>But Speaker Pelosi has still not allowed a vote on the American Energy Act, which Congressman McCaul has sponsored. The American Energy Act calls for an "all of the above" strategy gaining energy independence by allowing for drilling in Alaska and offshore, and by aggressively pursuing development of alternative energy, including nuclear, wind, clean coal, hydro-electric and geothermal. Supporters of the American Energy Act realize that no matter how quickly alternative energy is developed, America will still rely on fossil fuels for decades.

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