More of this, please.

The hearing was supposed to focus on how rising fuel costs and other problems facing the airline industry are hurting the economy and entrepreneurs across the country.

But the committee’s top Republican, U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot of Ohio, also used the occasion to argue that one way to bring down fuel costs would be to authorize more exploration and production of oil in the outer continental shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

Heath didn’t like his meeting getting hijacked by this lame Republican talking point, and he let old boy have it:

“Whether it’s in the committees or on the House floor, I see a lack of maturity, quite frankly, in this house of Congress, where members are actually fighting against one another for their own political posturing or political game of power,” he said.

In what appeared to be a rebuttal to Chabot, Shuler said oil and gas companies already hold leases on nearly 68 million acres of federal land that could produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day. That would nearly double total U.S. oil production and would increase natural gas production by 75 percent, he said.

“But yet we stand on the House floor, and people kind of think they’re Hollywood stars because of C-SPAN, and we talk about (drilling in Alaska) and talk about it when we haven’t even united together as a body, the people’s House, and said what can we do to better our country,” Shuler said.

An anonymous source told me last week that Shuler has joined the bipartisan House Peak Oil Caucus. Given his stances on alternative fuels, I’m not surprised. The more Shuler addresses bread and butter issues like this, the better. He’s been quite strong on energy, environment, labor, and education. The first term Congressman ought to get pissed off more often, because he makes a lot of sense when he does.

Tell it like it is, Deputy Whip Largely, and know that progressives will applaud when you behave like a progressive.