House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated this week that she may allow the House to vote on a measure to lift the moratorium on offshore oil exploration. However, Pelosi indicated the measure would be tied to Democratic priorities that Republicans would be unlikely to support.

The Hill reports Pelosi "may be ready to allow a vote on offshore drilling, but that doesn't mean she's going to make it easy on the Republicans who've been goading her for weeks on energy." Pelosi "stressed that it would have to be part of a larger energy package. And the contents of that package might include some items that would be tough for Republicans and the energy industry to swallow, like a renewable portfolio standard and the Democrats' signature 'use it or lose it' legislation."

Fox News Special Report said that the bill Pelosi will put forth will "have some measures Republicans deeply oppose and Speaker Pelosi in that interview hinted at one of them -- a so-called windfall profits tax."

Some Republicans Deride "Gang Of 10" Energy Deal
The Hill reports, "Members of the bipartisan Senate 'Gang of 10' should embrace energy legislation introduced by House Republicans or face opposition from House GOP for a 'fatally flawed' proposal, a member of House leadership wrote in a letter to the Senate group on Tuesday." In his letter, Republican Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter "said House Republicans would oppose the New Energy Reform Act in its current form and criticized the bill as too narrow an approach that will raise prices on consumers."

The Wall Street Journal reports, "Republicans have used the offshore-drilling issue to paint Democrats as out of touch with ordinary Americans and beholden to environmental groups that oppose any relaxation of the current drilling ban," but "the drilling issue could lose its power as an electoral wedge if both parties agree to the concept put forward by a group of Republicans and Democrats. Their proposal would open additional acreage in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida's western coast to drilling, and also allow Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia to 'opt in' to drilling off their shores if their legislatures approve."

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