Mike Conaway The U.S. House of Representatives has adjourned until Sept. 8, but Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Midland), whose District 11 includes Lampasas County, and 23 other Republican congressmen have remained in Washington to call for a vote to authorize increased oil drilling.

The Republicans have been speaking without microphones or C-SPAN cameras, which the Democratic majority controls, since Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced the recess last Friday. Representatives have called for Ms. Pelosi to reconvene the House, Conaway said, and some of the Republican protesters have invited Capitol tourists onto the House floor to hear the representatives' speeches.

Numerous speeches have been interrupted by applause and cheering, Conaway said Monday morning after temporarily leaving the House floor.

"So far the reaction has been very enthusiastic," he said. "It's very electric."

Conaway said Republicans who favor authorizing deep-sea drilling, oil exploration on the outer continental shelf and oil-shale exploration in the Rocky Mountains have the 218 votes needed to pass a comprehensive energy plan. The plan also would include support for alternative fuels, the congressman said.

An increase in the domestic oil supply might allow an additional 10 to 15 years for Americans to develop viable alternatives to fossil fuels, he said.

"We ought to use that breathing space to develop alternatives," said Conaway.

Plug-in automobiles and electricgasoline hybrid vehicles may not provide a permanent solution, Conaway said, however if onefourth of the vehicles owned in the United States could run off natural gas instead of gasoline, Americans could reduce emissions while minimizing economic disruption.

Congressional authorization of offshore drilling would signal to investors worldwide an increase in American oil supplies, Conaway said. The congressmen said such an action would reduce speculative pressure in the oil market and dampen the price increases in crude oil.

Ms. Pelosi, in a statement, argued that authorizing offshore drilling would "give away public lands" to large oil companies and would save Americans only a few pennies per gallon of gas.

Conaway said even if Ms. Pelosi does not reconvene the House before its five-week recess ends, House Republicans will demand a comprehensive energy vote early in September.

"They'll have to use their imagination as to how they can get a vote, and they may get a vote," Ms. Pelosi said last Sunday on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos."