Drilling votes stall appropriations work

The Senate’s chief appropriator postponed markups of two spending bills scheduled this week after learning Republicans intended to force more votes on lifting the offshore drilling ban.
 
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement from his office that how the energy issue was playing out on the Senate floor had forced him to stall the appropriations legislation.
 
{mosads}“Given the uncertainty in how the oil and gas drilling issue is currently playing out on the Senate floor, I have decided to postpone the July 24 appropriations markups at this time,” Byrd said.
 
GOP members of Byrd’s panel lambasted the decision, calling it a chance blocked by Democratic leadership to open up energy reserves in order to lower record-high gas prices.
 
“Democrats must recognize that using our resources to increase supply cannot be taken off the table,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).
 
“The American people are struggling with a gas price crisis and Democrats are blocking our attempts to get gas prices down with new oil supplies,” said Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.).
 
According to a schedule released by Byrd’s office, two markups scheduled for this week have been postponed — one for the Interior and Environment appropriations bill, the other for the second supplemental spending bill. Hutchison and Bond said last week that they had plans to repeal the offshore drilling moratorium.
 
The flare-up follows a similar battle between Democrats and Republicans in the House over the spending process.
 
Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, stalled spending bills in that chamber when amendments by GOP members to lift the ban were offered in a full committee meeting last month. That led to a party-line vote to adjourn the hearing, and Obey has refused to mark up bills in full committee since.
 
With the legislation postponed for now, Byrd said it is unlikely the supplemental appropriations bill will be finished before the August recess as several other bills take precedence, such as the defense authorization and tax extenders bills. The supplemental was to pay for recovery efforts from the California wildfires and Hurricane Katrina.
 
Instead, Byrd understands that Senate Democratic leadership is committed to completing the supplemental this September.