In a radio interview this morning on AM 550 WKRC in his hometown of Cincinnati, House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) recapped the American Energy Tour he and 10 of his GOP colleagues took to Colorado’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Alaska’s North Slope this past weekend. The Energy Tour highlighted the House Republicans’ “all of the above” plan to reduce gas prices, which harnesses new technologies, encourages greater conservation and efficiency, and increases energy production here at home in an environmentally-safe manner. House Democratic leaders continue to block a vote on the plan to reduce energy costs, even though an increasing number of rank-and-file Democrats and an overwhelming majority of the American people support more American energy production as part of any comprehensive plan to bring down the price at the pump. Key excerpts and audio of Boehner’s interview follow:
BOEHNER ON THE HOUSE REPUBLICANS’ “ALL OF THE ABOVE” AMERICAN ENERGY TOUR:
“That’s why I and 10 of my colleagues went on what we called the Great American Energy Tour this weekend. We went out to Golden, Colorado to see the National Renewable Energy Labs to look at all of the really cutting edge work that they are doing on solar energy, hybrid cars, plug-in hybrids, hydrogen cars, the kind of geo-thermal work that’s being done. And frankly, the next phase of ethanol, cellulosic ethanol. And from there we went up to the North Slope of Alaska. Went up to see the production facilities at Prudhoe Bay and flew over the National Petroleum Reserve Area and flew over ANWR to look at the North Slope where we’ve been producing oil for the last 30 years and the fact is, we can produce a lot more oil if we can produce on the coastal plain of the arctic national wildlife refuge where there is no wildlife.” (AUDIO)
BOEHNER ON THE FIGHT IN CONGRESS TO REDUCE THE PRICE AT THE PUMP:
“The hold up is that you have Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and Barack Obama who will not allow a drilling vote in the Congress… Because they worship at the altar of radical environmentalism… No question that low-income people are bearing the biggest brunt of this problem. But [Democrats] know that if there is vote, it’s going to pass overwhelmingly either whether it’s drilling in ANWR, on the Outer Continental Shelf, but they refuse to allow a vote… Let me tell you, we’ve been trying now for eight weeks to find a way to force a vote and we’re going to continue to press them every single day. They’ve gone through all kinds of legislative hijinks to make sure there is no vote… There’s an annual ban on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf that’s been part of the appropriations process and I suspect when they try to put the ban in what’s called a ‘continuing resolution’ to keep the government funded, we’re going to have a whale of a fight come September.” (AUDIO)
BOEHNER ON DEMOCRATIC LEADERS DEFYING THE WILL OF THEIR OWN MEMBERS AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ON AMERICAN ENERGY PRODUCTION:
“The important thing is that the American people know that we need more production in order to have more supply to bring gas prices down. And Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and Barack Obama are standing in the way of what the American people are demanding, and I don’t think they can sustain the position that they’ve taken. They’re looking to do everything possible to avoid a vote, try to get us out of town before we do find a way to get a vote and it’s a fight their own members, own Democrat members are very uncomfortable with their position. But the question is, will they step up and take on their leadership, which is something they’ve been unwilling to do thus far.” (AUDIO)
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