HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Washington, Jun 11 - Right at this moment, some 60 miles or less off the coast of Key West, Florida, China has the green light to drill for oil in order to lower energy costs in that country.  Meanwhile, 1,210 miles in the opposite direction from Key West, Democrats in Washington, DC continue to block the United States from conducting environmentally-safe oil and gas exploration in similar areas off U.S. coasts.  That’s right; rather than making the most of our own vast American energy resources, the Democrats in charge of Congress would rather increase our costly dependence on foreign sources of energy – even though the Chinese are taking matters into their own hands…and in our own backyard.  Do congressional Democrats really trust the Chinese that much more than Americans?

In an op-ed published yesterday in the Modesto Bee, Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA) affirmed that the Democrats’ policy “amounts to a government handout of U.S. natural resources to foreign countries”:

Also noting China’s oil exploration off the coast of Florida, House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) writes in an op-ed published in today’s Springfield News-Leader that the United States may have more recovery energy than oil-rich Saudi Arabia – though those valuable resources remain locked-up under the Democratic Majority in Congress:

By prohibiting the United States from taking part in the same type of energy exploration that the Chinese are conducting just miles off our shores, the Democratic Majority on Capitol Hill continues to prove itself complicit in an energy crisis that has saddled American families and small businesses with gas prices that have reached $4.05 per gallon today, according to AAA.  That’s why Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) filed a discharge petition yesterday to force Democratic leaders to schedule a vote on the No More Excuses Energy Act (H.R. 3089), legislation authored by Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) to increase U.S. energy production and invest in alternative sources of energy. 

Do congressional Democrats actually believe China has more ingenuity and more concern for the environment than the United States?  If not, why are they looking the other way while China pursues energy independence in our own backyard while America’s resources remain under lock-and-key?

READ MORE:

• Boehner: House GOP Launches Effort to Force Pelosi, Hoyer to Schedule Legislation to Help Lower Fuel Costs (6/10/08)
• Editorials: Out-of-Touch Democrats Should Support Increased Production of American-Made Energy (6/10/08)
• Rush Limbaugh Praises House GOP Efforts to Lower Gas Prices & Expose Dems’ Chronic Negligence on Energy Crisis (6/10/08)