In empty House, GOP engages in political theater

WASHINGTON — No votes are being cast and C-SPAN's cameras aren't turned on, but Congress' August recess hasn't stopped more than 100 House Republicans from appearing on the House floor during the past two weeks to demand a vote on expanding domestic oil drilling.

Lifting a ban on offshore drilling has become the marquee campaign issue for the Republicans, even though the oil industry estimates that opening the nation's coastal waters to drilling is unlikely to provide more oil for at least seven to 10 years.

The Republicans said they are holding the mock legislative sessions on behalf of constituents who can't understand why Congress is taking a five-week summer vacation with important items to be resolved.

The not-ready-for-prime-time effort to embarrass the Democrats into debating offshore drilling might be having an impact.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the target of their jibes, recently said she was open to energy legislation that permits some drilling. She ended the House session this month before angry Republicans had a chance to debate the issue, and she opposes repealing the ban on offshore drilling.

Sen. Barack Obama hadn't been a fan of offshore drilling, either. But the Democratic nominee-in-waiting recently said he could support it if it were limited and part of a broader energy package.

Obama's opponent, Republican Sen. John McCain, was against offshore drilling before he was for it. Conservatives who oppose a Senate bipartisan compromise on drilling are on his case, however, because he hasn't ruled out the measure.

All these conversions aren't due entirely to the Republicans' stunt. Polls show that the public is angry over high gasoline prices and increasingly supports offshore drilling.

But strange things can happen in Washington in August. It's the month President Nixon resigned, Monica Lewinsky talked to a grand jury and the British torched the Capitol and the White House in 1814.

In a city emptied of heavyweights, the House sit-in is the only game in town.

"Political theater," said tourist Tom Coleman, of Tacoma, who was visiting the Capitol this week with his brother and 87-year-old father.

The Republicans might be doing the honorable thing. After all, House members will earn nearly $170,000 this year, and so far they've worked just 96 days.

The sit-in makes for a homespun scene sometimes. One minute the Republicans will be talking about the failure of socialism; the next, the lingering effects of too many corn dogs.

"You can't believe how many I've had to eat," Republican Rep. John Kline of Minnesota lamented recently. Too many county fairs, he said, and the tourists chuckled.

The crowds for the sit-in aren't standing-room-only. You have to impeach somebody to draw that kind of interest. But think of a town-hall meeting, political free-fire zone and pep rally rolled into one. When a congressman extolled the virtues of "American energy," the audience cheered. That kind of behavior usually would trigger a quick gavel.

"Strange," deputy House historian Fred Beuttler mused. "We've never seen this before."

These are not normal times. The visitors have been invited to sit on the House floor, for example, on the leather-upholstered benches that the lawmakers usually occupy.

Indeed, to see the "people's House" filled with real people in flip-flops, shorts and baseball caps, is kind of a jolt. But reaffirming.

The Republicans said their motivations aren't partisan.

"This is not about Republicans versus Democrats," said Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia.

Too bad he didn't stop there. Unable to repress his inner partisan, Westmoreland continued, "This is about Nancy Pelosi versus the people of the United States. She's elected by the San Francisco mentality."

Also

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., has announced plans to review allegations that senior Bush administration officials ordered the forgery and dissemination of false intelligence documents to suggest a link between Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the lead hijacker in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The claims were reported by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ron Suskind in his new book, "The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism."