Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Barrow’s Failure to Vote Costs American Drivers Last Chance at Summer Gas Price Relief

(WASHINGTON, DC) - Congressman John Barrow (D-GA12) today single-handedly blocked America's last chance for gas price relief this summer, by his decisive failure to vote on keeping the House in session until a relief bill was passed. The motion to adjourn until after Labor Day passed by a single vote, 213-212, while Barrow's vote could have kept the House in session until some measure passed to lower prices at the pump.

See: House Roll Call Vote 537

"This is incredible," says John Stone, Barrow's Republican challenger. "John Barrow has spent four years driving up the price of gas by voting to block drilling in Alaska, block drilling offshore, and block construction of new refineries, but this takes the cake. He didn't have to vote for any Republican measure, but simply to just keep the debate going until some bipartisan solution could be reached. He instead lets Nancy Pelosi shut down the House in the middle of the fight, and for this do-nothing Congress to take a six-week vacation while their fellow Americans swelter under stifling gas prices. The fact that he did this by failing to vote at all is the ultimate insult to the people of our district."

Stone says he would have voted to keep the House in session the entire month of August if necessary to reach consensus on gas price relief. The former newsman supports an immediate gas tax moratorium to lower prices by as much as fifty cents a gallon. Stone also supports a ten-year plan for American energy independence that includes drilling in Alaska and offshore, new refineries and nuclear reactors, higher gas mileage and alternate fuel vehicles, alternate energy research and expansion, and improved highways and mass transit.