A five week August recess is upon the United States Congress. House speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the Democrats turned out the lights and killed the microphones, adjourning while Republicans were still on the floor talking about gas prices, and how to bring those prices down.
Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and his fellow GOP leaders opposed the motion to adjourn the House of Representatives, claiming that voting on allowing off-shore oil drilling is more important than a vacation, and is hurting the American economy by being left unsettled. The Republicans called their actions the new Boston Tea Party, and refused to leave the floor after the adjournment motion at 11:23 AM, and remained until right at the stroke of 5:00 PM, when Georgia Representative Tom Price announced that House Republicans were stopping their impromptu protest on the floor of the chamber. They ended the five-plus-hour uprising with a singing of "God Bless America."
During the five hour GOP Uprising, the Republicans continued their argument that Congress needs to take up new energy legislation.
The protesting conservatives gave impromptu speeches, and nearly filled the seats of the chamber with staffers, Boy Scouts and tourists in an attempt to pressure Democrats to hold a vote on offshore oil drilling and other GOP energy ideas.
Republicans are now saying that in the end about 45 congressmen took part.
When Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats departed they made sure that all sound systems had been turned off, but it is being reported that the noise was easy to hear from outside the chamber.
The crowd on the floor chanted, "Vote! Vote! Vote!" after Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), called for more action on energy and urged each person to tell 10 others to join the cause.
Representative Kevin Brady (R-TX) said he was on a plane ready to take off for Texas when he heard his GOP colleagues were still on the floor. He immediately headed back to the Capitol to participate in this historic event.
On the floor Representative Thaddeus McCotter proclaimed, "This is the people's House, this is not Pelosi’s politiburo."
The assembled tourists, aides and members in the chamber gave the GOP a standing ovation, shouting "USA! USA! USA!" as they departed when it ended.
Democratic aides were furious at the GOP stunt, kicking reporters out of the Speaker's Lobby, the space next to the House floor where they normally interview lawmakers.
"You're not covering this, are you?" complained one senior Democratic aide. Another called the Republicans "morons" for staying on the floor.
At 11:00 PM here in California while surfing all of the news networks and broadcast networks, the only ones talking about this event at all was Fox News.
One of the tourists that attended, a self-described Republican that supported the effort, said, "The fact that Democrats left before getting their work done is highly disappointing."
Republicans have been demanding a vote on this issue of drilling domestically for a few days now, and the Democrats have avoided it all the way up to adjourning and running off on vacation.
Will the Republicans carry this into Monday? I suggest that we demand that it does! After all, they are there to serve the public. The U.S. Constitution begins "We The People," and I suggest we remind our Congress exactly what that means. Contact your Congressional Representatives and demand that they depart from their home in their respective districts and return to Washington D.C. to complete their duties! They have dropped the ball, so we cannot drop the ball on this too. This is too important. The GOP has put the Democrats on notice, and the American people need to make sure we demand that all of them (including the Dems) return to the House and vote on the issues regarding energy. Watching as this story has developed, it has become obvious to me which party cares and gives a care about the American people, and it is certainly not the Democrats.
These Republicans that have staged this modern day Boston Tea Party, however, must follow through. They must finish what they started. I expect to see them still in Washington on Monday - otherwise, it will be painfully obvious that they have not "grown a pair" after all.
Read more about this on A Newt One, CNN, Hot Air, and Politico.
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