GOP eyes temporary funding bill to lift drilling ban

Senate Republicans are considering the option of holding up a must-pass resolution that keeps the government operating to force Congress to remove a longstanding ban on offshore drilling.

Congress includes the offshore drilling ban annually in the appropriations bill for the Interior Department and other environmental agencies. However, since that bill or any of the other 11 annual funding measures are unlikely to pass before the new fiscal year starts in October, Congress will need to extend that ban on a continuing resolution to keep the government operating.

{mosads}President Bush removed an executive order Monday imposed by his father that prevented drilling along the coast. But in order to give oil companies access to new offshore areas, Congress must remove its three-decade-old ban that prevents drilling along the Outer Continental Shelf.

Republicans, sensing that the public outcry over soaring gasoline prices gives them an edge in the debate, said Tuesday they would first try to remove that ban through other legislation. They would not rule out, however, holding up the continuing resolution to allow expanded drilling along the coastal United States.

"We are first going to deal with the measure on the floor of the Senate," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). "And we'll take it one step at a time. But you're right. The current congressional moratorium is enacted on a year-by-year basis."

Democrats say oil companies should first drill on the 68 million acres of land available to them before more off-limit areas are opened, arguing that lifting the ban would amount to a giveaway to companies raking in record profits.

"What he wants to do is give these oil companies, who last year made $250 billion net profit, he wants to give them more," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said of Bush.