Reid, Pelosi ready to compromise

WASHINGTON – Are the Democratic leaders in Congress nervous about the growing grass-roots demand for lifting restrictions on domestic oil drilling?

Consider this: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has himself proposed a plan to open new areas for oil exploration – outraging senior members of his own caucus.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, ever aware of the way average Americans are being squeezed at the gas pump and through rising inflation due to higher energy prices, is supporting the plan.

While the proposal is drawing shrieks from those Democrats occupying safe seats in the House and Senate, it shows how vulnerable congressional Democrats might be to an uprising from voters in November.

The legislation, drafted by Reid and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., would open nearly a billion new acres off the coast of Alaska to study for drilling. It would also dramatically accelerate oil leases in the western and central Gulf of Mexico.

"I am unalterably opposed to drilling,” said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, (D-N.J., a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, who cited a massive oil spill that closed nearly 100 miles of the Mississippi River last week.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., urged Reid to be "very careful about drilling off the coast of Alaska."

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has one the opposite direction from Reid and Pelosi – sponsoring legislation to ban drilling in the North Aleutian Basin, an area that Congress has already opened to oil leasing.

Pelosi told The Hill that lawmakers should focus on the National Petroleum Reserve on Alaska's North Slope instead of offshore.

"There are tens of millions of barrels in the reserve," she said. "If you want oil in Alaska, drill there."

Rep. Peter Fazio, D-Ore., is among those who believe Democratic leaders haven't been rigid enough in opposing drilling.

"Some people are just scared of the accusation that not leasing more has an impact on oil prices," he said.

Meanwhile, WND Editor Joseph Farah has renewed his call for pressuring Congress to drop its moratorium on offshore drilling and its ban pumping oil in Alaska's ANWR nature reserve.

"It will be a shame if Americans don't hold Congress' feet to the fire before members quietly adjourn for the year," Farah says. "This is an election year and the Democratic majority is clearly out of step with the will of the people on this issue. But the people's will must be expressed clearly and forcefully."

Oil has doubled in price over the past year, triggering inflation
and pinching U.S. consumers who are dealing with a depressed housing
market, job uncertainty and soaring food costs.

Farah is calling
on Americans to flood Congress with e-mails, phone calls, letters and
text messages demanding action that can lead the country in the
direction of energy independence.

"Right now, that means lifting
the moratorium," he says. "That's the first step. If we can't agree on
that as Americans today, then we are in for a long period of national
economic decline. If we can't push Congress to do the right thing with
even a strong majority of Democrats behind us, then this country is
simply no longer a place where the will of the people means anything."

Farah's goal is to force Congress to act in the next two months – before it adjourns for the year.

Farah's
plan is simple: "I want to bring Congress to its knees," he says. "I
want to melt down their phones. I want to flood their e-mail boxes. I
want to hold them as political hostages. The ransom demand is to
unleash the free market to begin exploring and pumping domestic crude
oil and getting it to market as fast as possible. We've got 73 days to
make our voices heard. Let's make history by bringing this recalcitrant
body of elitists into compliance with the will of the people and the
rule of law."
After eagerly waiting for someone else to take the
lead on demanding action of Congress, Farah came to the conclusion no
one else was going to do it.

"We're running out of time," Farah
says. "If we let these rascals, these scoundrels, leave town before
they lift all their ridiculous bans and restrictions on drilling for
domestic oil, this country is headed for a major recession. Even worse,
we'll head into a new year and a new presidency with the Washington
elite thinking they put one over on us again."

Farah says the
only thing that can prevent the disaster of gasoline prices of $6, $7,
even $8 a gallon in the near future is a general uprising of the
American people.

Besides the call to action,
Farah is also devoting the current issue of Whistleblower magazine, the
monthly print complement to WND, to the critical topic of "the energy
independence revolution."

"It's time to stop business as usual," he says. "Every day, you need
to make some phone calls, you need to write some emails, you need to
use Skype and text messages and even send some letters through the Post
Office. This grass-roots movement has to build steadily for the next 73
days. We cannot allow Congress to adjourn without lifting the ban on
drilling in ANWR, off shore and on public lands under which we know
there are vast reserves of oil."

Farah says it's a national emergency and needs to be treated as such.

"I hope radio talk-show hosts across the country will embrace this
bipartisan, non-partisan movement," he says. "There is no question in
my mind this is what the American people want. Now it's just time for
them to impose their will on their elected representatives who, in
their chauffeured limousines and taxpayer-supported travel, are
hopelessly out of touch with their constituents, with people who are
finding it difficult to make ends meet."

Farah says he is convinced Congress will act only if the people
steamroll members into action. He points to the way the Dubai port deal
and so-called "comprehensive immigration reform" were killed by popular
uprisings in recent years.

"We can make this happen, again," he says. "But this time, we won't
just be stopping something bad from happening. We will be doing
something that is very good for the country – something that will
improve the lives of all of us, something that will improve national
security, something vital for the future of the nation."

Congress is set to adjourn at the end of September and will take most of August off for recess.

"I'm going to do everything in my power to push Congress into action in the next two months," Farah says. "I know I can't do it by myself. But
I know if the American people get mobilized nothing can stop them. You
have to let members of Congress know you are serious. You have to
persuade them and their staffs they are not returning to Washington
next year if they fail to act in America's interest before they leave
town."

Before then, you can reach members of the House and members of the Senate by calling 202-224-3121. The official House website contains web pages for all members and includes email addresses for most. The official Senate website also contains web pages for all members and includes email address for some.