Could offshore drilling fight lead to a government shutdown?
With efforts to force a vote on offshore drilling stymied before the August recess, Republicans are eyeing the continuing resolution as potentially the next major front in the fight over energy policy, raising the specter of the first government shutdown in 13 years. Conservative leaders in both chambers made clear yesterday that they will press Democrats to not keep the offshore drilling and oil shale development moratoriums in place when Congress takes up the fiscal 2008 continuing resolution at the end of September. Because the two bans were included as part of the Interior Department’s funding measure, they would likely be continued as part of the CR. It remains unclear, however, if the Republican leadership or the White House is potentially willing to block a CR if it means shutting down the federal government. The White House has asked Congress to lift the drilling ban, though it has not yet said whether it would veto the bill if it contains a continuation of the moratoriums.
