WASHINGTON – A Republican bid to expand and hasten offshore oil drilling in the face of $4-a-gallon gasoline prices suffered an overwhelming defeat in the Senate on Wednesday, four days after President Obama directed his administration to ramp up U.S. oil production.
Five Republicans joined 52 Democrats and independents in rejecting a bill written by Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell to speed up decision-making on drilling permits and force previously scheduled lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Alaska and Virginia coasts. The Obama administration suspended several lease sales after last year's massive BP oil spill.
The bill was supported by 42 Republicans, well short of the 60 needed to advance it.
Several GOP senators complained that the bill gave too much ground to the Obama administration, including a provision that would require independent reviews of oil companies' plans for responding to major oil spills before they could get drilling permits.
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