posted on December 9, 2006 09:25:50 AM new
from today's DrudgeReport.com
Congress approves offshore drilling bill
Sat Dec 9, 2006 11:37am By Chris Baltimore
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Hours before adjourning for the year, the U.S. Congress on Saturday sent President George W. Bush legislation that would open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas drilling and redistribute billions of dollars in royalties to four Gulf states.
The drilling measure was wrapped into a broad tax and trade package that the U.S. Senate approved by a 79-9 vote, hours after the House of Representatives approved it.
Rep. Bobby Jindal, a Louisiana Republican and one of the drilling measure's main supporters, said Bush will sign the bill into law.
The offshore legislation ends a 25-year ban on drilling in deep waters about 125 miles south of Florida's Panhandle, but extends a moratorium on drilling in other Florida waters until 2022.
The area known as "Lease Sale 181" holds an estimated 1.26 billion barrels of crude oil and 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
In a statement, the White House said the bill "will help to reduce our dependence on imported sources of energy by increasing access to domestic sources of oil and gas."
But it will be years before the tracts are leased to energy companies and the new supplies actually hit the market.
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
Ann Coulter
[ edited by Linda_K on Dec 9, 2006 09:29 AM ]
posted on December 9, 2006 10:55:00 AM new
Well....this story just can't be TRUE....after all...it's from the Washington TIMES.
House extends Bush's tax cuts
By Brian DeBose
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
December 9, 2006
The House added about $39.5 billion in spending in its last session of the year, passing an extension of President Bush's tax cuts and fixing the Medicare reimbursement formula for doctors. It also allowed more offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
The spending measure, which passed 367-45, faces opposition in the Senate, where some said the price tag was too high and loaded with reckless spending provisions.
[I have NO doubt about that. lol Tax cuts??? not from the tax and spend dems - no way]
"This bill is the largest budget-buster ever brought to the floor by the Republican Congress that the Republican leadership has seen fit to ram down the throats of its members," said Sen. Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican and chairman of the Budget Committee.
However, some lawmakers said it was their responsibility to extend the popular tax deductions for middle-income families and tax breaks for teachers and college students.
"House Republicans believe in letting Americans keep more of their hard-earned money, and this legislation does just that," said House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican.
"Absent today's action by House Republicans, taxpayers would have been hit with an automatic tax increase totaling more than $35 billion over the next five years."
[of course, the dems PROMISED they'd 'take care of' the middle income families - will that do that by RAISING their taxes? ]
The House last night also passed a bill extending permanent normal trade relations to Vietnam and lowering tariffs on fabrics and manufactured clothing imported from Haiti, numerous African nations and several other Third World countries. The vote was 212-184.
The congressional delegation from North Carolina was furious about the trade bill, which it saw as further damaging the already weakened textile and manufacturing industries in the state.
The two measures likely will be merged into one package by the Senate, which is expected to vote today.
Some senators were willing to swallow the costs of the tax bill in exchange for policies necessary to their states.
"This bill doesn't have everything that many of us would have liked the bill to have, but the things it does have in it are monumentally important," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Texas Republican, who supported the legislation primarily because it allows voters in Texas to deduct sales taxes on their federal income tax returns.
The House last night also passed a resolution to keep the government running until Feb. 15 after lawmakers failed to approve 10 of the 12 appropriation bills. The resolution also contains a provision that stops the automatic cost-of-living increase members of Congress receive.
Mr. Blunt praised the plan to open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling.
Under the bill passed by the House, oil companies will be able to lease 8.3 million acres of federally owned land in the Gulf of Mexico for the production of oil and natural gas.
The bill also creates a new revenue-sharing formula between the Gulf States -- Alabama, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana -- and the federal government.
Under the new formula, 37.5 percent of the royalties from oil and gas leases would go to the Gulf Coast states, with Louisiana getting the lion's share of the profits. Another 12.5 percent would go to a land and water conservation fund for the states to recoup coastal wetlands, and the remaining 50 percent would go to the federal government.
Floridians, who have historically fought against offshore drilling in the Gulf, satisfied themselves with a special provision that sets up a 100-mile moratorium on drilling from their beaches.
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
