Republicans are threatening to block the annual extension of the ban on offshore oil drilling, claiming to be building support for an effort that Democrats say smacks of a threat to shut down the government.
Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has announced that 36 of the 49 GOP senators had signed a letter to Senate leaders supporting the designation of Oct. 1 - the deadline for renewing the ban for the 28th straight year - as "American Freedom Energy Day" and opposing the extension of the prohibition.
The letter, addressed to both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, also targets the ban imposed last year on oil shale leasing. "Many people aren't aware that these bans on drilling must be renewed every year, and that all we have to do is to allow these prohibitions to expire on Oct. 1," DeMint said in a statement released Tuesday.
"In just 50 days, Americans will have the freedom to pursue their own energy resources here at home," he added. DeMint argued that it was "irrational to say 'no' to American energy" because it was needed to reduce independence on foreign oil and bring down gas prices.
Today, the senator announced he will begin a tour across South Carolina Thursday to promote greater dependence on domestic energy supplies. "The only way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and lower prices at the pump is for America to rapidly pursue our own energy sources," DeMint said.
"America should remove barriers to a wide array of new energy supplies ... The first step to lower energy prices is to allow the bans on offshore drilling and oil shale to expire on October 1st," he said.
Aides to Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, said 136 House Republicans had signed a similar letter that the Texas lawmaker started circulating on July 23.
The aides said the campaign to scuttle renewal of the ban was not intended to blunt consideration of the bipartisan compromise energy packages calling for both costal drilling and renewable energy initiatives.
A spokesman for Reid was quick to warn that, because the bans are attached to annual appropriations bills, an attempt to block them could lead to a reprise of the 1995-1996 government shutdown that resulted from an impasse over government spending bills that pit President Clinton against congressional Republicans, led by then House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
"If they want to shut down the government, denying millions of senior citizens their Social Security checks, in order to side with big oil companies, then they should go right ahead," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said today. "But as Speaker Gingrich found out, the entire Republican Party will pay a terrible price in November for such a silly and desperate stunt."
On another front in the partisan fight over energy policy, House Republicans launched another day of floor speeches demanding that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bring lawmakers back from their August break to deal with high gas prices.
"We are in a good position right now, the Democrats are trying to figure out what to do," said Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., alluding to Pelosi's reversal Monday night of her refusal to allow a floor vote on offshore drilling. But Shimkus deflected a question on whether he thought President Bush should veto a continuing resolution to keep the government functioning after Sept. 30 that calls for extending the coastal drilling moratorium.
The Illinois lawmaker merely responded that House Republicans were prepared to "call [Pelosi's] bluff" on consideration of a comprehensive energy plan.
