Late Tuesday evening, I returned to Minnesota from my second trip to Washington since the Congressional recess began August 1. I have twice returned to Washington to join my colleagues on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to demand Speaker Nancy Pelosi call Congress back from its five-week paid vacation so we can vote on the “American Energy Act” (H.R. 5656) and begin to make America more energy independent.

 

It was encouraging to see the growing number of my colleagues in Congress who are returning to Washington on a daily basis to continue to demand an energy vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. By tomorrow, nearly 100 members of Congress will have joined our efforts to bring relief to the American people.

 

A number of media outlets covered House Republican efforts earlier this week:

 

Now that I am back in Minnesota, I can continue meeting with constituents and discussing the issues important to them. It is an opportunity to listen and learn and take that knowledge to Washington. Among the events I have scheduled this month are a series of meetings with constituents and civic groups such as the Chambers of Commerce and Rotary Clubs. I also have been visiting with Minnesotans at the various county fairs throughout the district, and later this month, I will join hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans at the “Great Minnesota Get Together” that is our State Fair.

 

Whether I am meeting with Minnesotans at civic group gatherings, or visiting with constituents at county fairs and other public events, I continue to hear concerns about the high prices of gasoline, diesel fuel, and natural gas. These men and women are frustrated with pumping their paychecks into their gas tanks and devoting too much of their family budgets to gasoline that hovers around $4 per gallon, instead of contributing to their children’s college funds and their own retirement accounts.

 

I will continue to put pressure on Majority Leadership to allow a vote on a comprehensive energy bill – the American Energy Act. This bill, which I co-sponsored, lowers gas prices by encouraging more conservation and efficiency, promoting the use of more alternative and renewable fuels, and expanding drilling on remote lands and far off American shores in an environmentally safe way. The American Energy Act would bring relief to the American people and help us become more energy independent.

 

To illustrate our need for an “all of the above” energy plan and raise more awareness about the need for a comprehensive plan that increases American-made energy in all forms, I have been visiting and touring energy production facilities this summer throughout Minnesota’s 2^nd District. My visits highlight a variety of new, clean, and reliable sources of energy.

 

I have visited the Pine Bend Refinery in Rosemount, the Hastings Hydropower Plant at Lock and Dam No. 2 on the Mississippi River, the Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant in Welch, an “energy from waste” facility in Red Wing, a Carleton College Wind Turbine in Northfield, and an electric generating facility in Faribault. Later this month, I plan on visiting other energy producers in Scott and Carver County.

 

I also have visited with constituents at transit stations and gas stations, where I hear first-hand how high gas and energy prices are affecting Minnesotans, their families, their small businesses, and their schools. I will continue to do what I can in Congress to ensure their concerns are addressed and America reduces its dangerous dependence on foreign oil.