The GOP blocked three energy bills last week to force Democrats to lift a drilling ban.
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
But congressional leaders are increasingly deadlocked over what to do. In response, frustrated rank-and-file members on both sides of the aisle are stepping up efforts to find common ground.

As gas prices rise, the topic of offshore drilling is rapidly becoming an issue going into the November elections. John McCain has recently come out in support of offshore drilling and Barack Obama is against it. Public opinion is favoring McCain's stance
Gas prices have soared over the last year and as the totals at the pump become apparent to the voting public, their opinion about offshore drilling has shown that the majority, in a variety of recent polls, want Congress to lift their ban on offshore drilling.
nnected with the cost of gas, rank and file Republicans united behind McCain on this issue.

By LAWRENCE MESSINA AP Writer CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Four of West Virginia's five representatives in Congress are up for re-election this year, but that hasn't stopped all five from together contributing more than $1.5 million to other candidates and causes.
The four Democrats and one Republican are following a national trend that has incumbents passing along funds raised to help their parties in the U.S. Senate and House as well as in state legislatures.

By JOHN SUNUNU NOT SO long ago, the US Senate was considered to be a forum for open debate and amendment on the major policy questions of the day.

By Stan Katten Recognizing the serious deleterious effects of a 27-year-old policy, President Bush canceled the balance of an executive order prohibiting

Four dollar-a-gallon gas has done something that few Republicans thought possible just a few months ago: given them hope.
United behind a renewed push for offshore oil drilling, Republican members of Congress and the party's presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, think they have found their best political issue of the 2008 campaign.
olly and a huge oil tanker spill in the Mississippi River in New Orleans.

By Brad Bumsted HARRISBURG - With an air of smugness and outright defiance in the early morning hours of July 7, 2005, six members of a state House-Senate conference committee approved a bill that boosted salaries by 16 percent to 55 percent for legislators, judges and some executive-branch employees.
After the conference vote, most of the members refused to talk about it to the media and wouldn't hand out copies of the bill. By 2 a.m., the full House and Senate would approve of the pay-jacking without debate.
- began to cover their tracks.

By Bryan McAffee What is quickly turning into the political issue of the season, Republicans continue to hold strong on drilling for more oil.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Congress is locked in a partisan dispute over energy legislation that has produced plenty of combustible debate but is unlikely to produce a bill to help lower gas prices anytime soon.
The two top Senate Democrats -- Sens. Harry Reid, left, and Dick Durbin -- say the GOP wants to help Big Oil.
lation bill, what do you want? Silence. They said they want this energy debate to go on forever."

WASHINGTON - Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., had barely left the House floor after voting Thursday when a Republican leadership aide approached him to ask if he meant to support a Democratic-backed bill to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
“Yes,” Rep. Wamp told the aide. “I know what I did. I’m a grown man.”
bill and were met by about 150 protesters from environmental groups, who held signs reading “Save Our Shores” and “Just Say No To False Solutions.”

WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - US legislation to rein in excessive energy speculation failed a key procedural vote on Friday to move forward in the Senate,

by Michael Franc For the first time in a while, House Republicans are on the offense on an issue of national importance: removing obstacles to the

By Jamie Dupree @ July 25, 2008 12:00 AM Permalink | Comments - | TrackBacks (0)
Even when gas prices hit $4/gallon nationally, many wondered if there was a chance the Congress would approve a bipartisan deal on energy policy. The answer is becoming all too clear now as lawmakers maneuver for political advantage in this election year.
ion and more.

By CARL HULSE WASHINGTON - House Democrats failed Thursday in their efforts to force the Bush administration to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gasoline prices as Republicans stuck to their demands for a vote on an expansion of offshore drilling.
Despite winning majority support, the measure to draw 70 million barrels of light crude oil from the reserve for sale in the commercial market did not receive the two-thirds support needed under special rules. The vote was 268 to 157, 16 short of the margin needed.
A. Westmoreland, Republican of Georgia.

By MARTIN KADY II & PATRICK O'CONNOR | 7/23/08 4:52 AM EST Democratic leaders, caught off guard by a swing in public opinion and undermined by some of their