High prices give him a platform to criticize Obama administration.policies
Seizing on the strain of high gasoline prices, U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise spent lunchtime Wednesday filling fuel tanks and protesting President Barack Obama's oil supply strategies.
U.S. representative Steve Scalise pumps gas for Dustin Tamor, back right, of Mandeville at the Cheveron station at the corner of N. Causeway Blvd. and West Esplanade Avenue Wedneday in a piece of political theater, using the opportunity to criticize the Obama administration's energy policies. "We need a new energy policy in this country that says we don't need to be beholden to these Middle Eastern countries," he said.
Scalise, a Jefferson Republican, has bashed the Obama administration for not encouraging enough domestic drilling. He questioned U.S. subsidies he said were going to Brazil's oil production industry while some rigs weren't drilling in U.S. waters.
"We need to reverse that failed policy," he said.
Not too many drivers were making it to the pumps around noon at the Chevron station on North Causeway Boulevard in Metairie, but Scalise handled the hose for those who did.
That is, except for Roger Villere, the state GOP chairman. After a computer glitch led Scalise to move on to another car, Villere was left to pump his own gas.