House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on “Larry King Live” Monday night that she would consider allowing a vote on offshore drilling, but only if it were part of an energy package that included renewable-energy investment and release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Pelosi has refused to allow a vote on offshore drilling as a stand-alone issue, despite Republican demands for one. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) responded to Pelosi by saying that Republicans would “welcome you and your Democratic colleagues to join us in our historic call to action on American energy,” and declared that the GOP is “ready to vote on more energy production and lower gas prices right now, and we should not wait one more day to begin giving the American people the relief they expect and deserve.” (Though actually the wait would be more like a decade, which is how long experts say it would take for new offshore drilling to affect oil prices.) Barack Obama indicated last week that he could be open to compromise on offshore drilling, but only in the context of a comprehensive energy bill that would ultimately reduce dependence on foreign oil.
