trickblue
08-05-2008, 10:32 AM
Link (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2008-08-03-offshore_N.htm)
Pelosi firm: No vote on offshore drilling
By Susan Page, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday ruled out a vote on new offshore oil drilling even as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he might be open to a compromise that included it.
The scramble over expanded drilling off America's coasts — ammunition for a weekend of rat-a-tat-tat by the presidential campaigns — underscores the political power of $4-a-gallon gas. Though President Bush and other backers of new drilling acknowledge it wouldn't directly affect gas prices for years, they have pounded Democrats for opposing the measure, which is now supported by most Americans.
Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech today in Lansing, Mich., on energy policy, unveiling what spokesman Bill Burton called "new short-term and long-term solutions to the energy crisis that we're facing."
On Tuesday, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain is scheduled to go to the Enrico Fermi nuclear power plant in Newport, Mich., to spotlight his proposal for more nuclear plants.
The latest furor over energy policy began when Obama, campaigning in Florida on Saturday, spoke favorably of a Senate plan that includes new offshore drilling, a step he has long opposed.
"What I don't want is for the best to be the enemy of the good here," he told reporters in Titusville. "If we can come up with a genuine, bipartisan compromise in which I have to accept some things I don't like, or the Democrats have to accept some things that they don't like, in exchange for moving us in the direction of energy independence, then that's something I'm open to."
McCain also would be "open to compromise packages" on energy, aide Nancy Pfotenhauer said Sunday on CNN's Late Edition.
The Senate measure, unveiled Friday by five Democrats and five Republicans, would give states the final say in drilling 50 miles or more from shore on the Outer Continental Shelf. It also would repeal a key tax break for oil companies, expand funding for alternative-fuel vehicles and extend tax credits to promote alternative and efficient energy.
Pelosi called proposals to allow more offshore drilling a deceptive "decoy" rather than a solution and indicated she would bar a vote on any bill that included it. "I'm not giving the gavel away to a tactic … that supports the oil (companies), big oil at the cost and the expense of the consumer," she said on ABC's This Week.
The House started a five-week summer recess Friday despite Republican demands for a vote on lifting the federal ban on offshore drilling. House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio said GOP representatives would be on the House floor today to protest the lack of action.
Pelosi's hard line is good news for Obama, said Thomas Mann, a congressional analyst at the Brookings Institution. Her action "basically cools the passion of environmentalists, knowing it's not going anywhere, while he (is) open to compromise on a comprehensive package that would achieve many other objectives," Mann said. "It allows him to effectively have it both ways."
A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken July 25-27 found that Americans by numbers approaching 2-1 would be more likely to support a candidate who backs expanded offshore drilling.
McCain had opposed new offshore drilling but announced in June he would support it because of rising energy costs. Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent and former Democrat who backs McCain, said the switch demonstrated the Arizona senator's decisiveness in responding to a crisis.
In contrast, "Barack Obama says this weekend 'maybe,' 'eh,' and 'if, but,' " Lieberman said on NBC's Meet the Press. "He did not come out with a strong decision."
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, an Obama supporter, replied that the Illinois senator was ready to "break America's gridlock by honoring a bipartisan effort."
Pelosi firm: No vote on offshore drilling
By Susan Page, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday ruled out a vote on new offshore oil drilling even as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he might be open to a compromise that included it.
The scramble over expanded drilling off America's coasts — ammunition for a weekend of rat-a-tat-tat by the presidential campaigns — underscores the political power of $4-a-gallon gas. Though President Bush and other backers of new drilling acknowledge it wouldn't directly affect gas prices for years, they have pounded Democrats for opposing the measure, which is now supported by most Americans.
Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech today in Lansing, Mich., on energy policy, unveiling what spokesman Bill Burton called "new short-term and long-term solutions to the energy crisis that we're facing."
On Tuesday, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain is scheduled to go to the Enrico Fermi nuclear power plant in Newport, Mich., to spotlight his proposal for more nuclear plants.
The latest furor over energy policy began when Obama, campaigning in Florida on Saturday, spoke favorably of a Senate plan that includes new offshore drilling, a step he has long opposed.
"What I don't want is for the best to be the enemy of the good here," he told reporters in Titusville. "If we can come up with a genuine, bipartisan compromise in which I have to accept some things I don't like, or the Democrats have to accept some things that they don't like, in exchange for moving us in the direction of energy independence, then that's something I'm open to."
McCain also would be "open to compromise packages" on energy, aide Nancy Pfotenhauer said Sunday on CNN's Late Edition.
The Senate measure, unveiled Friday by five Democrats and five Republicans, would give states the final say in drilling 50 miles or more from shore on the Outer Continental Shelf. It also would repeal a key tax break for oil companies, expand funding for alternative-fuel vehicles and extend tax credits to promote alternative and efficient energy.
Pelosi called proposals to allow more offshore drilling a deceptive "decoy" rather than a solution and indicated she would bar a vote on any bill that included it. "I'm not giving the gavel away to a tactic … that supports the oil (companies), big oil at the cost and the expense of the consumer," she said on ABC's This Week.
The House started a five-week summer recess Friday despite Republican demands for a vote on lifting the federal ban on offshore drilling. House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio said GOP representatives would be on the House floor today to protest the lack of action.
Pelosi's hard line is good news for Obama, said Thomas Mann, a congressional analyst at the Brookings Institution. Her action "basically cools the passion of environmentalists, knowing it's not going anywhere, while he (is) open to compromise on a comprehensive package that would achieve many other objectives," Mann said. "It allows him to effectively have it both ways."
A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken July 25-27 found that Americans by numbers approaching 2-1 would be more likely to support a candidate who backs expanded offshore drilling.
McCain had opposed new offshore drilling but announced in June he would support it because of rising energy costs. Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent and former Democrat who backs McCain, said the switch demonstrated the Arizona senator's decisiveness in responding to a crisis.
In contrast, "Barack Obama says this weekend 'maybe,' 'eh,' and 'if, but,' " Lieberman said on NBC's Meet the Press. "He did not come out with a strong decision."
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, an Obama supporter, replied that the Illinois senator was ready to "break America's gridlock by honoring a bipartisan effort."