Pelosi OKs drilling vote, but at a price

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will grant the Republicans' their big wish this campaign season — a vote on offshore oil and gas drilling — but only if the GOP accepts a few of her own demands.

Pelosi's decision to relent on the drilling issue, laid out with new clarity in Saturday’s Democratic radio address, illustrates the political pressure Democrats are feeling this campaign season. But the legislative menu Pelosi envisions includes a number of offerings that Republicans have considered unpalatable, a clear indication she will force the GOP to give up a lot in exchange for more domestic oil and gas exploration.

Her priorities include a repeal of royalty relief for offshore drillers and an end to other tax credits for the biggest oil companies, as well as so-called use it or lose it legislation forcing energy companies to relinquish un-used leases.

In the radio address, Pelosi said the Democrats' plan "will consider opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling, with appropriate safeguards, and without taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil."
As excerpts from Pelosi's address spread among lawmakers and their staffs Friday night, House Republican Conference spokesman Brian Schubert was encouraging GOP press secretaries and communications directors to “have your bosses issue statements pointing out that Speaker Pelosi’s energy plan is not an all-of-the-above answer to our energy crisis, nor will it take all of the necessary steps — overwhelmingly supported by the American people.”

And before Pelosi’s address even aired, House Republican had posted a “fact-checking” article on the House Republican Conference website.

Most of the items Pelosi outlined on Saturday have been considered in the past two years: requiring President Bush to release oil from the 700-million-barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve, creating new safeguards to prevent "excessive speculation" in the commodities markets, forcing energy companies to use more renewable technologies and reducing mass transit costs for commuters.

Many of the items on her legislative wish list failed earlier this summer because Democrats brought the measures to the floor under rules reserved for noncontroversial legislation. Those rules block the minority from offering alternatives but also require a higher threshold for passage.

"Suspension of the rules is not the way to consider energy issues," said California Rep. David Dreier, the ranking Republican on the House Rules Committee.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a conference call on Friday, didn't shoot down Pelosi's plan to move a measure that includes more drilling. Instead, he applauded the bipartisan "Gang of 10" for offering a compromise package in the Senate that would allow Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia to opt out of a federal ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, calling it a "step in the right direction."

The Nevada Democrat, who has organized an energy summit in Las Vegas next week, repeatedly suggested that any package should include an extension of tax credits to boost investment in renewable sources of energy — a priority Reid and Pelosi share that remains stuck in the Senate. "Let's get these long-term tax credits in place," Reid said.

A spokesman for the Senate majority leader said the extended tax breaks, which have come within one vote of being considered, are not mutually exclusive with Pelosi's broader package.

"The ball is in the Republicans' court," Reid spokesman Jim Manley said. "They've blocked every attempt to move responsible incentives for renewable energy. The question now is whether cooler heads have prevailed."

Josh Holmes, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), said, “It’s amazing that after months of congressional debate about high gas prices Democrats are still more committed to blaming others for their inaction than they are actually doing something to reduce the price of gas."

Pelosi’s proposal comes as House Republicans finished the second full week of protests on the House floor. Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, one of the original ringleaders of the protest, said Republicans would continue to hold the floor until Pelosi brings the House back into session.

Although Pelosi laid out the circumstances Saturday under which she might allow a vote on offshore drilling, she repeatedly derided GOP calls for it.

"America faces a choice: a continuation of the Bush-Cheney-McCain approach that perpetuates the failed policies that have produced soaring prices," Pelosi said, "or a comprehensive, bipartisan strategy that develops new and traditional sources of energy."

Her counterpart, Republican Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio, shot back: "While the speaker now claims to embrace a comprehensive energy plan that includes more conservation, more innovation, and more American energy production, the Democrats’ utter inaction on this issue trumps their newfound, hollow support for the very reforms Republicans have been promoting all year long."

Earlier this week, McConnell flatly rejected any drilling measure that includes countervailing provisions that would raise taxes — an indirect slight to the "Gang of 10" plan and a preemptive shot across the bow at measures such as the proposed repeal of billions of dollars in tax credits for big oil companies.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.