Democrats on a House Appropriations subcommittee rejected a Republican proposal to drill for oil between 50 and 200 miles off the U.S. coast. All 9 Democrats on the subcommittee voted to continue our support of terrorism by reinforcing our dependence on Middle Eastern sources of oil.Chairman David Obey said we are kidding ourselves if we think we can drill our way out of this problem. He's partially right.
First, Democrats have to loosen the choke hold environmentalists have on their party so that more refineries can be built without the shackles and outrageous additional costs placed on oil companies by ill-devised environmental legislation. Once we have sufficient refinery capacity, then we should look at opening new areas for drilling in this country to lessen our dependence on foreign oil.
At what price for gasoline will we demand that our Congress allow drilling in this country? Do we have to get to $5.00 per gallon? $10.00? How much damage to our economy will we allow before we do what is logical?