With the Shot Clock Running Down, the Ball is in Speaker Pelosi's Court

Press Release

My many years as a UK basketball fan have been filled with ups and downs, with glory and defeat. Thinking on the high gas prices we're all paying—the most critical issue facing families in the 5th Congressional district—I cannot help but be reminded of an important lesson I've learned from our beloved Wildcats - if you've got the ball with 10 seconds left on the shot clock, and the game tied, you've got to make a move.

With two weeks left before Speaker Pelosi adjourns the Congress for August, the American people continue to be faced by sky-rocketing fuel prices, still hovering well over $4.00 per gallon. That translates to a whopping 10 to 16 percent of take-home pay for drivers from Pulaski to Pike counties. Families, veterans, and seniors in our region are facing tight budgets, increased food prices, and desperately need relief at the pump. Yet Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her extremist environmentalist cronies continue to do nothing to ease this burden on hard-working families in southern and eastern Kentucky. Instead, we're seeing a lot of pacing and political posturing back and forth along the baseline by the Speaker's operatives hoping America isn't paying attention or the problem will simply go away. Either way, the shot clock is running down and it's time for her to take a shot at lowering gas prices.

Recent polls indicate that nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that increasing the supply of domestic oil, natural gas and coal from U.S. land and waters is the most important way to reduce the pain at the pumps. That is why my Republican colleagues and I have co-sponsored dozens of bills and signed numerous petitions that call on the Speaker to allow gas price reduction measures to be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives for an up or down vote. I've personally written the Speaker and requested votes on these important issues and still we wait for that in-bounds pass.

Earlier this week, President Bush lifted a decades-old executive order banning exploration for oil and natural gas off of the American coastline. I applaud the President for this decisive action. Currently, oil and gas exploration is banned in 97% of the United States' 1.76 billion acre Outer-Continental Shelf (OCS), and it is estimated that the OCS contains at least 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Lifting this 28-year-old ban could provide enough oil to replace Middle Eastern imports for 35 years and yield an 18-year supply of natural gas. This is an important step towards energy independence and reducing the price of gas for the long term.

However, the President's action, by itself, means nothing unless Speaker Pelosi allows us to bring related legislation to the floor of the U.S. Congress. I, along with 95 other Members of Congress, have co-sponsored H.R. 6108, the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act, which would effectively end these bans on domestic production by granting coastal states the authority to permit drilling within 100 miles of their coastlines and allowing the federal government to lease sites beyond 100 miles. This would increase American petroleum and natural gas supplies to help with high gas prices, as well as reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Kentucky families need Speaker Pelosi to bring the legislative ball to the floor for action. It's well-past time for Speaker Pelosi to steal a page out of the Wildcats playbook—the ball is in her court, and the shot clock is running out.

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