The rhetoric in Congress over offshore drilling and a government shutdown does not appear to be going away anytime soon. Democratic members appear ready to offer a limited increase in offshore drilling that will be coupled with renewable energy tax credits and conservation provisions. They are still firmly against any removal of the federal moratorium on offshore drilling. They also want to pay for many of the tax provisions with tax increases on oil companies and the like.
Most Republican members are still looking for ways to remove the offshore drilling ban. Members in the House are continuing their bold streak by amping up threats to vote against a continuing resolution if it includes an extension of the ban, which would lead to a government shutdown.
Republican leaders in the Senate, however, are taking a more cautious approach to that subject. They don’t seem as confident that support for more drilling will be enough to fight off attacks that they are leaving people behind by shutting down the government. “If Republicans want to have a debate about denying senior citizens Social Security checks and health care, that’s a debate we’re willing to have,” a spokesperson for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stated. That is a prime example of such an attack.
Congressional Quarterly outlines a couple of pieces of energy legislation which may hit the Senate next week:
Reid said he plans to bring up a Bingaman-sponsored draft bill that would open new areas of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to drilling.
While that proposal, along with provisions extending tax credits for alternative energy, would likely enjoy bipartisan support, the bill would offset costs by cutting subsidies to oil companies, which many Republicans would oppose.
Reid also would call up the compromise draft legislation proposed by a bipartisan group of senators — the so-called Gang of 16 — which would allow the Southeastern states to opt into drilling off their shores, as part of a broader package including an estimated $84 billion in investments in conservation and efficiency offset by cutting tax breaks to oil and gas companies.
Budget Chairman Kent Conrad, the North Dakota Democrat who helped assemble the gang, said an additional five Democrats have expressed support for the plan. But many Senate Republicans remain committed to a complete repeal of the moratorium.
