Pelosi rips McCain for being absent on energy

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday blasted Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who suggested Congress should return from recess to vote on offshore drilling.

{mosads}“Sen. McCain wants to call Congress back into session to vote on ‘drill only’ proposals that he knows full well will not provide immediate relief to consumers, and yet he was absent from the Senate during critical votes to cut subsidies for Big Oil, help consumers and promote renewables and conservation,” Pelosi said.

The Speaker is currently under fire from House Republicans who are rallying in Congress during recess to highlight their drilling plan and pressure Pelosi to allow a vote on legislation that would expand oil exploration to areas off the U.S. coasts.

She has indicated, however, that the House would continue to focus on other measures, which Democrats say would bring more immediate relief to Americans.

Congress would “continue to demand that the president release oil from our nation’s stockpile to provide immediate relief in 10 days, unlike the McCain-Republican-Big Oil plan that lowers prices at the pump by two cents in 10 years,” Pelosi stated. “Freeing a small amount of our oil from government stockpiles is the only immediate solution to the pain at the pump.”

The Speaker added that “McCain’s absent leadership on energy independence doesn’t match his rhetoric.”