Offshore drilling bill moves forward in Senate

A bill to open waters in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida to oil and natural gas drilling easily cleared a procedural hurdle on Wednesday that paves the way for the U.S. Senate to vote on the measure in coming days.

But Senate Republican leaders said they would oppose a push by Democrats to widen debate to include possible amendments on automobile efficiency standards and other proposals to lower soaring U.S. energy prices.

The move keeps debate centered on Republican leaders’ plan to develop 8.3 million acres in the eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida and share billions of dollars in federal drilling royalties with four Gulf Coast states – Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

The Senate voted 86-12 to allow debate on the drilling bill after Democrats like Sen. Jeff Bingaman (news, bio, voting record) of New Mexico backed the procedural motion in hopes of winning concessions through the amendment process.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate should consider five Republican amendments and an equal number of Democratic ones.

But Sen. Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record), the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, said sponsors were worried that amendments could threaten a “delicate compromise” struck with Gulf Coast senators on revenue sharing.

“Let’s not kid ourselves — this bill is good for the Gulf Coast” but won’t lower gasoline prices, Reid said. “I hope we can do better before we finish this congressional term.”

Congress is set to recess in August, and lawmakers are loath to return home without some concrete action by Congress on soaring energy prices, which are likely to play big in the mid-term elections in November.

Democrats are still hoping that Republicans will allow the Senate to debate changing the bill and consider a plan by Democrat Barack Obama that would gradually increase U.S. automobile efficiency standards.

“We’re hopeful that cooler heads will prevail,” Bingaman’s spokesman said, pointing out that the current bill is “pretty weak soup in terms of domestic energy supplies” because it leaves most U.S. offshore acreage under a drilling moratorium.

Meanwhile, Republican leaders in the House of Representative are pushing for Congress to clear a more expansive offshore drilling bill akin to the one the House passed last month.

“I would certainly encourage it to be larger rather than smaller,” said Rep. Joe Barton (news, bio, voting record), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, said the current limited bill had a better chance of passing the Senate than the House’s version.

“Anything that changes this (Senate bill) very much won’t pass the Senate,” Domenici said.

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