Republicans Invite Tourists to Fill House Chamber Over Energy Bill

WASHINGTON — Protesting that the Democratic majority recessed the House of Representatives without taking action on an energy proposal, 24 Republican members invited tourists to fill the chamber Monday and witness their demand for a vote on the bill.

The Republicans want Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to call the House back into session from its five-week August break to vote on a bill that includes provisions for more domestic oil drilling.

With a cut-off of microphones and C-SPAN cameras, which are controlled by the majority, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., told the tourists that filled the visitor galleries and the empty benches of the House floor that they were the "eyes and ears of the nation."

Petition Pelosi for an immediate vote, he told the crowd, urging them to dial 202-224-3121 (the U.S. Capitol) and ask for the speaker and to go back to their home districts and tell House members to come back for a vote.

Congress should be in session and voting "on the most important issue of the day — and that's the rising gas prices," said Price.

Pelosi's office, in a statement, countered that Republicans with their offshore drilling plans were proposing "to give away public lands to 'Big Oil,' which will not immediately reduce the price at the pump and save Americans only 2 cents 10 years from now."

Pelosi's spokesman said Monday the Democratic leadership would take no steps to shut down the unusual occupation of the House chamber during the recess.

However, Pelosi has offered little hope that she would yield on the GOP demands in an interview Sunday on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."

Asked why the Republicans can't have the up or down vote they seek, the speaker said, "They'll have to use their imagination as to how they can get a vote, and they may get a vote."

House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio fired off an open letter to the speaker calling it "unconscionable that Congress has gone on vacation" before addressing gas prices and demanding that she reconvene the House for a vote.

The Republican protest began last Friday after the Democratic majority voted to recess, with at least 40 Republicans still waiting to give speeches. With the lights dimmed and the microphones turned off, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., started speaking anyway.

Republican lawmakers lined up to follow him. Some en route home turned around in their tracks and came back to the House floor.

Rep. Michael Turner of Dayton, Ohio, found tourists visiting the Hill and began leading them into the vacated House chamber.

By Monday, several lawmakers were recruiting tourists, who enthusiastically lined up for a rare vantage point from the floor of the chamber. Many filled the benches usually occupied by Democratic lawmakers and applauded the Republican effort to get a vote on a "comprehensive" energy bill that would include renewable fuels, conservation and controversial offshore drilling.

"Vote! Vote! Vote!" they chanted.

Indeed, the chamber was filled with surprised visitors wearing shorts, T-shirts, flip-flops and running shoes.

"We were just doing a tour of the Capitol and somebody said, 'Do you want to go on the House floor?' And I said 'Sure.' " said Marilyn Landrum, who had been with a group escorted by a staffer from the office of Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas. "It was great. An awesome experience."

Linda Donie, a special education teacher from Howe, Texas, said it was like being a part of history.

"They just pulled us out" of a Capitol tour, she said. "It was great."

"I was very impressed" with the speeches, said Tyrone Terry, from New Orleans. Unexpectedly, he said, "they just let us out" on the House floor.

The Republican speakers seemed delighted to have a live audience. Without microphones, they practically shouted to make themselves heard in the upper reaches of the visitor galleries.

"The cameras may not be on. The microphones may not be on. The lights may be dimmed," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. "But this is the people's house and the people will be heard this day."

Rep. Westmoreland, who flew back to Washington just for the day to continue the protest, told the visitors, "Without your help, we're not going to be able to do anything." On energy policy, he said that Congress is "being held hostage by a very small group of people — the radical environmentalists."

The Speaker represents a liberal district, he said, so "the San Francisco mentality is controlling the energy policy of this country."

He recalled that when the Democrats were seeking to take over the Congress, Pelosi said they had a "common-sense plan to lower the price of gas."

Gas was selling for about $2.10 cents a gallon then, he said, and the price is now about $4 a gallon.

"I don't think they ever had a common-sense plan," he said.

Price said that the Republicans are only asking for "an up or down vote" on letting "Americans drill for American oil."

Cuba has sold leases for China to drill off its coasts for oil "almost within sight of the United States," said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va.

Even if it takes a couple of years to get the newly drilled wells pumping, "jobs will start immediately," pointed out Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla.

"I'm so happy you are here with us today," Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., told the visitors. "You can bring the message back to your districts."

Gingrey said he had to cancel a couple of appointments in his Georgia district and take a red-eye flight back to Washington but that "sometimes the district has to take a backseat to the nation."

Price, who was master of ceremony for the speeches Monday, said in an interview off the floor that the protest in the House chamber would "end when the speaker calls us back to have a vote" on an energy package.