From Congressman Camp's Newsletter.

I am pleased to see that Mike Camp, my Congressman, is pushing for oil exploration and drilling here at home.

From his newsletter.

Dear friends,

With families, employers and many public safety budgets suffering from record high gas prices, it is irresponsible for the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, to continue blocking votes on recovering more oil and gas from domestic sources.

The Speaker’s position is particularly troubling given the President’s announcement this morning that he will eliminate an administrative ban on drilling in the outer-continental shelf (OCS). That leaves a Congressional moratorium on such leases as the sole hurdle to recovering and producing oil and gas from this domestic source.

Prices are not going to drop over night, but there are steps Congress can and should take to ease prices at the pump. The first step is to lift the federal ban on recovering more oil and gas in the OCS, and that require Congress to act. Doing so would immediately send a strong signal to the market that we are serious about increasing production in this country and it would ease pressure on long term demand.

The ban didn’t make sense when gas was $2.00 per gallon, and it certainly doesn’t make sense now that gas has gone above $4.00 per gallon. Had we allowed domestic exploration in 1995, as I voted to do so, we would not be seeing gas prices this high.

A growing number of Democrats are joining a bipartisan push for greater domestic exploration. The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reports today that, “Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appears intent on preventing votes on opening more areas to offshore drilling despite the stirrings of a revolt by rank-and-file Democrats after months of concerted efforts by House Republicans.”

In what amount to good news for the American public, the article went on to warn that “dissident Democrats predict” Pelosi’s ability to block votes “may not last.”

Dave, I am proud to call you my Congressman. If I were from California, I would be ashamed of the Speaker of the House.