Democrats Cave on Drilling

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Even a stopped clock is right twice a day! What a bunch of losers to push a failed position for so long.

Democrats will not fight to keep the moratorium on off-shore drilling in their efforts to put together a continuing resolution to keep government funded into next year. Congressional leadership has conceded the issue to Republicans, who have staged protests and raised the profile of energy policy over the last six weeks. Starting on October 1, states will have no federal restrictions on oil production:

Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in an months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.

Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., told reporters Tuesday that a provision continuing the moratorium will be dropped this year from a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running after Congress recesses for the election.

Republicans have made lifting the ban a key campaign issue after gasoline prices spiked this summer and public opinion turned in favor of more drilling. President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling in July.

“If true, this capitulation by Democrats following months of Republican pressure is a big victory for Americans struggling with record gasoline prices,” said House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio.

This effectively ends this as an issue for the 110th Congress. Democrats thought they could get a partial moratorium past the Republicans, one that would have kept drilling at least 50 miles off from shore, but President Bush threatened a veto on any continuing resolution with that kind of language. The Senate had attempted to fashion the exact same compromise, but in the end, Republicans refused to agree.

Democrats concede on drilling


It's about time Republicans grew a pair.

Democrats to let offshore drilling ban expire - Yahoo! News