John McCain On His "All Of The Above" Energy Policy

"And anybody who says that we can achieve energy independence without using and increasing these existing energy resources either doesn't have the experience to understand the challenge we face or isn't giving the American people some straight talk. ... Congress should come back into session, and I'm willing to come off the campaign trail. I call on Senator Obama to call on Congress to come back into town, and come back to work." -- John McCain

John McCain
Lafayette Hill, PA
August 4, 2008

John McCain: "We're going to solve the energy crisis that's affecting businesses like National Label Company, and we need an 'all of the above' approach. We need to aggressively develop alternative energies like wind, solar, tide, bio-fuels and geothermal. But we also need to expand our use of existing energy resources here at home. That means we need more nuclear power. It means we need clean coal technology. And that means we need to offshore drill for oil and natural gas. We need to drill here and we need to drill now.

"And anybody who says that we can achieve energy independence without using and increasing these existing energy resources either doesn't have the experience to understand the challenge we face or isn't giving the American people some straight talk.

"Unfortunately, Senator Obama continues to oppose offshore drilling. He continues to oppose the use of nuclear power. These misguided policies would result in higher energy costs to American families and businesses and increased dependence on foreign oil. We're not going to achieve energy independence by inflating our tires.

"I am going to lead our nation to energy independence and I'm going to do it with a realistic and comprehensive 'all of the above' approach that uses every resource available to finally solve this crisis.

"As a lot of Americans know, the Congress is doing nothing, decided to go on a five week recess without addressing the energy challenge that's affecting Americans every single day in their ability to go to work, in their ability to do their jobs, in their ability to keep inflation down as they're trying to do here at the National Label Company. And they need a Congress that will act.

"Congress should come back into session. Congress should come back into session, and I'm willing to come off the campaign trail. I call on Senator Obama to call on Congress to come back into town, and come back to work. Come off their recess. Come off their vacation and address this energy challenge to America and don't leave until we do, Republican and Democrat joining together.

"And a very vital part of that is nuclear power and another vital part of that is offshore drilling. We have to drill here and drill now. Not wait and see whether there's areas to explore. Not wait and see whether there's a package that needs to be put together. But drill here and drill now and let's start working for the American people and not for ourselves.

"So, I hope that Senator Obama will call on Congress and the leaders Harry Reid and Speaker Pelosi to call Congress back into session. Let's get this energy crisis solved. As Americans have been able to solve every challenge that's faced us and move forward and work for America and put America first. Thank you very much."

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