Editor:

 I’m writing to express my disappointment in Congressman Tom Allen for casting the tie-breaking vote to adjourn the U.S. House of Representatives without taking any action at all to resolve our oil crisis.

 It seems to me that any concerned citizen, let alone a member of Congress, would want to work on this problem before even thinking about a vacation. With gasoline selling at about $4 a gallon and heating oil at about $4.40, our economy is faltering and thousands of people are being thrown out of work. Yet Mr. Allen voted to take a five-week vacation at a time when the American people are crying out for Congress to lift the offshore drilling ban to bring down oil prices.

 It’s clear that we must begin exploring for and producing our own oil and continue to develop alternative sources of energy for our economic and national security. We cannot afford to spend $700 billion a year to buy foreign oil because it will bankrupt the nation.

 Mr. Allen has been in Congress so long that he has lost touch with the concerns of the  “little people.”  Perhaps the “little people” will remember that on election day.

Rep. John McDonough

Scarborough