Boehner calls Dems' energy bill 'joke'

WASHINGTON, July 24 (UPI) -- U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner Thursday called the Democrats' efforts to free up the strategic oil reserve a "joke."

At his weekly news conference, Boehner, R-Ohio, said Democrats have been making one excuse after another "for why we can't have more American-made energy."

Boehner, fresh from trips to Colorado to inspect oil shale reserves and Alaska where he looked at conditions in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, said tapping those reserves would not lead to environmental catastrophe.

"The only people standing in the way of this are (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi, (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid and (Democratic presidential hopeful) Barack Obama, who are scared to death that their drilling vote might actually occur and pass the House," Boehner charged, calling their leadership "negligent."

"And they're blocking this vote because they know it would pass."

Turning to the measure freeing up the strategic oil reserve, Boehner said: "This bill is a joke. Come on! We're going to take 20 million barrels of light crude and we're going to exchange it for $20 billion of heavy crude. This is not an energy bill! This is not going to produce any more American-made energy. It's not going to bring down prices. It's just another excuse to avoid having a real vote on the House floor."