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Burgess Refuses to Support Partisan “All Symbolic, No Substance” Energy Policy Gimmick

Washington, DC, September 17, 2008
U.S. Representative Michael Burgess (R-Texas) today issued the following statement after voting against the Democrat-majority’s “all symbolic, no substance” energy legislation. Right now in places like Galveston and Houston, gas lines and shortages are leaving Texans high and dry. While people there are hurting, here in Washington the Democrat-controlled Congress is doing nothing about it. Instead, they’re playing partisan games with our energy supply and policy.
U.S. Representative Michael Burgess (R-Texas) today issued the following statement after voting against the Democrat-majority’s “all symbolic, no substance” energy legislation:

Right now in places like Galveston and Houston, gas lines and shortages are leaving Texans high and dry. While people there are hurting, here in Washington the Democrat-controlled Congress is doing nothing about it. Instead, they’re playing partisan games with our energy supply and policy.

Playing politics with America’s energy is analogous to playing Russian Roulette with our economy.  That’s exactly what happened on the House floor today with a purely partisan piece of energy legislation. It’s astounding the majority continues to bet against America’s consumers, commuters, and small businesses with gimmick bills that do nothing to ease our energy woes.

At the beginning of August, Republicans—including myself—refused to leave the darkened House Chamber until the majority party allowed a vote on comprehensive energy policy, including an increase in American-made energy. After five straight weeks of mounting pressure from the American people and the American press, Democrats finally relented. Today, in order to say they’ve held a vote, the Democrat leadership brings a bogus energy bill to the House floor. They then criticized Republicans who voted against it.

There are no new refineries included in the bill, no nuclear energy, no clean coal, no energy exploration in arctic Alaska. There also is no exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf.

This is another case of fuzzy federal government math—235 House Democrats vs. three quarters of the American people.  Once again, the odds are that Democrats win and real people lose.