House Republicans aim to force votes on pro-development energy bills soon

摘要

House Republicans plan to try to force Democrats to hold floor votes on seven pro-conventional-energy bills before Congress leaves town for a Fourth of July recess. Members can bring bills directly to the House floor over the speaker's objections if 218 of them vote to discharge the measures from committees. To accomplish this in this Congress, Republicans must convince a group of 36 Democrats to vote with them. Asking many members of the majority to buck their leadership would be a tall order under any circumstances, but particularly with the set of bills that Minority Whip Roy Blunt, Republican-Missouri, said he hopes to bring to the floor. An aide for Blunt said it was too soon to say whether the discharge petition would garner the Democratic votes it would need to succeed. This week, Blunt proposes to call up H.R. 3089, which would open new areas in Alaska and on the Outer Continental Shelf to oil and natural gas exploration.