Throughout this debate, some Democrats have asserted that the cap and trade energy tax scheme will not make much of a difference on the average family’s utility bills. However, a study conducted for the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission estimates Missouri rates could increase as much as 40 percent by 2015 due to these policies.

That’s why I offered an amendment to reverse this bill once your electricity rates go up 10 percent. Democrats who support the energy tax balked. “That won’t happen,” they claimed. My amendment wasn’t needed, they argued. It seemed logical if they really believed that the costs of this tax will not be passed on to consumers then why not support my amendment as an emergency exit for American families.

I believe actions speak louder than words. It speaks volumes that the same officials who claim energy costs will not increase by more than 10 percent due to this tax refused to support my emergency exit amendment.

Again to protect consumers, I offered the same amendment today and increased the number to 20 percent, believing surely this was a reasonable figure. Every Democrat opposed this bill.

Some have argued falsely that Republicans are simply saying “no” to Democrat ideas without offering any solutions of their own. This is not the case. I for one have offered many ideas and possible solutions to help improve America’s energy security. I support an “all of the above” approach including more production, more alternatives and more conservation. What I do not support is a backdoor energy tax on American families.

After defeating the two amendments I offered, supporters of the energy tax went on to vote en bloc to defending the energy tax even after your electricity rates double. It is clear the national Democrats’ big government tax and spend era has reached a new level – and, unfortunately, if we cannot stop them, every American is going to pay.

But the request one received from Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) this past Friday was no ordinary appeal – and neither were the circumstances that led Republicans to storm the floor of the U.S. House to demand a real debate on real solutions to our current (and very real) energy crisis.

It all started on Friday afternoon, history will record, as House Democrats were making their final preparations to adjourn the chamber and embark upon a five-week-long recess without doing a single thing to address skyrocketing prices at the pump. It was a decision we had asked Democratic leaders to reconsider all week, imploring our colleagues to temporarily suspend their vacation plans so we could address the needs of Americans who, because of $4 gas and $5 diesel, had been forced to permanently suspend theirs.

But not only weren’t Democrats themselves interested in sticking around to have that important debate on behalf of the American people, they actually attempted to manipulate the rules of the House to ensure Republicans weren’t able to stick around for it either. And it almost worked.

Typically, members of Congress not involved in a mad-dash for the airport have used the time before a recess to speak directly to their constituents via the House floor — usually for up to five minutes, generally on any subject they’d like. It’s a courtesy that’s been around for an awful long time, and it’s one we had very little reason to suspect wouldn’t be extended to members once again last week.

But Democratic leaders had other plans in mind, as it turned out — gaveling the session closed in such a way as to intentionally deny any opportunity for Republicans (or Democrats, for that matter) to speak. Knowing they had done wrong, those same leaders didn’t linger around the floor any longer than was needed – abruptly silencing the chamber’s microphones, making quick work of the lights, cutting the cameras, and executing a pell-mell rush for the exits.
But not all members heeded the direction of the gavel and gave up their fight for affordable energy. And unfortunately for Democratic leaders, those who hadn’t – folks like Tom Price (R-Ga.), Mike Pence (R-Ind.), Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.), and Kevin Brady, with luggage in tow — weren’t about to leave the House chamber that day without getting their due time on the House floor.

And so began the spontaneous dialogue on energy that has continued unabated since last week. And having participated in that dialogue when it first kicked-off last week, I can’t wait to get back down there this afternoon to continue that effort – by interacting directly with the men, women and children to whom this Congress continues to deny reasonable access to available energy.

But I won’t be the only member of Congress down on the floor this afternoon. We’re expecting more than a dozen Republican members today, along with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. His plan is to deliver a message on behalf of the 1.4 million Americans who have signed a petition demanding that Congress finally take meaningful steps to produce more homegrown American energy here at home. Contrast that message with the one being advanced by the current speaker of the House – who continues to deny a simple up-or-down vote on something as basic and reasonable as exploring for more American energy here at home.

What can you do to help? Stop by the U.S. Capitol if you can, and be sure to call or write you member of Congress if you can’t. Tell him or her that the only way to bring down the price of gas, diesel and electricity is to produce more American energy right here in America. And make sure to remind them that, not only does Congress have the ability to deliver affordable energy to the American people, it has the responsibility to.

And it’s that dogged independence that gives so much credibility to the conservative blogosphere — credibility that simply doesn’t exist on the left, where blogs like the Puffington Host [sic.] and Daily Kos serve as a bulletin board for standard Democratic talking points, and where opposing viewpoints are shouted down from view.

RedState contributors and other conservative bloggers work to advocate a core set of ideals and beliefs – and these are the ideas that’ve helped grow the conservative movement in the past, and allow it to continue its growth in the present in a manner that’s both unabated and unapologetic.

While I’m generally on the same page with the readers and contributors here at RedState, there have been times where we weren’t exactly on the same paragraph – but there has never been a time when I dismissed the valuable discourse that this site fosters on a daily basis.

That open debate not only keeps RedState on the forefront of conservative blogs, but the new features on RedState 3.0 stand to ensure that this blog stays on the cutting edge for a long time to come.

A value can’t be placed on the keen insight that thoughtful dialogue promotes and fosters. I believe that the Democratic Party is at a significant disadvantage because of their lack of online discourse, though it is hardly surprising that that is the case.

This is a party, after all, that seems to actively discourage the very discourse that the medium of blogging was created to foster. That’s never been clearer than it has been so far this year. First we saw the Democratic leadership block a needed update to our nation’s foreign surveillance laws — simply because they knew it would pass. We’ve watched them pass bill after bill under rules that wouldn’t allow any debate and now their party is taking every possible step to avoid having a vote to allow Americans to produce more American energy.

Clearly those few examples prove that the majority simply doesn’t have enough confidence in their ideas to bring them to the floor with full debate and a chance to vote on amendments – much less allow the free market of ideas to have their way with them.

So, as RedState celebrates its fourth birthday this year, I want to thank each of you for fostering debate, allowing me to talk directly to the heart of the conservative movement, and cutting through the filter of the mainstream media.

Keep up the good work, congratulations on your new site launch and thanks for helping us fight the good fight.