HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Washington, Aug 22, 2008 - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today criticized Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD) plan for a four-day work week for federal employees.  As reported in this morning’s Washington Post, Hoyer sent a letter to the federal Office of Personnel Management earlier this week, asking the agency to “undertake comprehensive analysis of the transitioning to a 4-day work week for all possible federal employees and inform me by August 31, of any additional actions Congress would need to take to implement such a policy by the end of fiscal year 2008.”

Boehner issued the following statement on the plan:

“Today, Rep. Hoyer has finally given the American people a glimpse of the Majority’s long-promised energy plan: drive smaller cars, wait for the wind, and let bureaucrats work less.  At a time when Democrats continue to block a vote on the House GOP’s ‘all of the above’ plan to lower gas prices by increasing production of American energy, promoting more conservation and efficiency, and encouraging the use of more alternative and renewable fuels, to propose a shorter work week for Washington bureaucrats is an insult to American workers and their families struggling with high gas prices. 

“The American people support more American energy to bring down the price at the pump, and this latest proposal from the out-of-touch Democratic leadership is just added proof of how far Democrats are willing to go to continue defying their will.  House Republicans will continue our nationwide gas prices protest – from the House floor to communities across the nation – to hold Speaker Pelosi, Rep. Hoyer, and their Democratic counterparts accountable for their refusal to allow a vote on a meaningful energy plan to lower gas prices.  It’s time for Democratic leaders to stop offering their hollow ‘no energy’ proposals and allow a vote on the House Republicans’ ‘all of the above’ American Energy Act.”

NOTE: Increased American energy production is a cornerstone of House Republicans’ American Energy Act (H.R. 6566), an “all of the above” plan to lower gas prices by encouraging more conservation and efficiency, promoting the use of more alterative and renewable fuels, and expanding drilling on remote lands and far off American shores in an environmentally-safe way.  Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, and their Democratic colleagues adjourned Congress on August 1 for a five-week recess without allowing a vote on the GOP plan to lower gas prices.

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