Michelle Malkin » House GOP (and 33 Dems) to Obama: Drill, baby, drill

House GOP (and 33 Dems) to Obama: Drill, baby, drill

By Michelle Malkin • May 6, 2011 11:25 AM

The heat is on.

And 33 Democrats joined the House Republican majority yesterday to put the White House on notice that they take America’s energy independence seriously.

The vote:

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve a measure intended to jump-start drilling off Virginia’s coast.

It passed on a 266-149 vote, with 33 Democrats in the majority. Lease sales are the first step in a multiyear process that can culminate in drilling.

The Virginia delegation broke on party lines — eight Republicans voted in favor and three Democrats were opposed.

The Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act would direct the secretary of the interior to conduct offshore oil and gas lease sales off the state’s coast within one year of the bill’s enactment. It also would trigger lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico but exclude any tract off Virginia that would conflict with military operations.

Virginia’s lease sale was scheduled for this year but delayed until at least 2017 after the April-July 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.

The bill was the first of three House measures meant to speed up drilling. None of the three is likely to pass the Senate, where Democratic leaders are more focused on ending tax breaks received by oil companies.

Heritage gives us a grim milestone reminder:

This Date in History: Obama Imposes Job-Destroying Drilling Moratorium

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Posted in: Enviro-nitwits,Politics

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#101

On May 6th, 2011 at 11:37 pm, Roland said:

Didn’t watch it (forgot it was on). Rush and others seemed to be most impressed by Cain, and apparently Pawlenty and Santorum also did well. Romney’s got that one big anchor around his neck and I just don’t see him in the chase. It’s still early and they all have more than plenty of time to screw things up.

I saw it. My impression was Cain, Santorum and Paul all did well, but Pawlenty was disappointing.

BTW, my assessment Romney was the ‘winner’ does not mean I support him. Of the five candidates at the debate, I’d probably prefer Cain (I don’t know enough about him for that opinion to be firm), but I think he has about .0001% chance of actually winning the R nomination in 2012 … about the same as Ron Paul.

I like West and Palin best of the conservative ‘possibles’ to challenge Romney, but I don’t think either will run this time.

Romney would squash Huckabee.
#102

On May 7th, 2011 at 9:05 am, John Deaux said:

On May 6th, 2011 at 5:56 pm, txvet2 said:
There’s no economic or technological reason to be putting ethanol in gasoline at all.

I don’t know. We have various loan programs to protect our sugar industry from dumping done by other countries. I say we take their sugar at pennies per pound and turn that into ethanol. That would bring the cost of corn back down, protect our sugar industry, and provide ethanol at a fraction of the current cost.
#103

On May 8th, 2011 at 5:41 am, BK said:

This bill is dead.

It does not serve the Marxists in Charge so the Senate and POSOTUS will kill this bill.