Joe Pitts: “President Bush recently went to Saudi Arabia to ask the gulf kingdom to increase its oil production to help bring down…”

“President Bush recently went to Saudi Arabia to ask the gulf kingdom to increase its oil production to help bring down gas prices. Instead of flying all the way to the Middle East, perhaps he should have made the short trip down Pennsylvania Avenue for a visit with Congress to ask the lawmakers here to increase the supply of oil right here at home. According to the Department of Interior, 86 billion barrels of oil are available in the Outer Continental Shelf, added to the 53 billion barrels available in land. According to the Bureau of Land Management, we have 139 billion barrels of oil right here at home. That's more than the oil-rich countries like Kuwait, Venezuela and Russia have. Last year we imported over 6 billion gallons of refined gasoline into the United States. One might ask, considering these numbers, why aren't we attempting to access more of our fuel right here at home? The Democrat leaders have a roadblock to every bill to drill for oil, natural gas, shale oil, right here in the U.S. How long is it going to take them to learn?”