[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 129 (Thursday, July 31, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H7635-H7636]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CONGRESS SHOULD DO ITS JOB AND VOTE ON ENERGY

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. Yesterday, by one vote, the House voted to adjourn as soon 
as today for the August recess. This means Congress is about to take a 
5-week vacation without even taking a vote on bipartisan measures that 
would lessen our dependence on foreign oil by allowing more domestic 
drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people won't get a vacation from high 
gasoline prices, so Congress shouldn't take a vacation until we vote to 
lessen our dependence on foreign oil.
  If the Speaker won't keep the House in session to allow this vote, I 
urge President Bush to call an immediate

[[Page H7636]]

energy special session of Congress. Under article II, section 3 of the 
Constitution, the President has the power, quote, on extraordinary 
occasions to convene the Congress. If $4 a gallon of gas isn't an 
extraordinary occasion that demands action by the Congress, I don't 
know what is.
  The Congress should stay in session and do its job and give the 
bipartisan pro-drilling majority a vote. And, Mr. President, if this 
Congress tries to leave town without voting on more drilling, use your 
constitutional authority, bring them back and make them work.

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