“We would offer a package and allow the Republicans to offer the same,” said Durbin. (The Washington Times on Wednesday listed Durbin as one of several Democrats who are “wavering on offshore drilling.)
 
Republicans told Cybercast News Service on Thursday that such an alternative would include lifting the congressional moratorium on offshore drilling. “I can’t imagine us having a debate about energy and not having, as a proposal, lifting the moratorium,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told Cybercast News Service on Thursday. “I think there is actually very strong bipartisan support for lifting the ban.”
 
“Absolutely,” said Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) when Cybercast News Service asked if a Republican alternative to the Democratic proposal would include lifting the moratorium. “It will include lifting the moratorium on drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf, lifting regulations out in the West so that we can start taking advantage of the energy there, dealing with speculation, and providing more money for batteries and research work.”
 
A bill limiting the ability of investors to speculate on energy future markets, now being debated in the Senate, is opposed by many Republicans.

While avoiding any explicit mention of offshore drilling, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) also hinted at the possibility of allowing a vote on the moratorium at a Thursday press conference. He emphasized that a bill limiting the ability of investors to speculate on energy future markets is only the first step in finding an energy solution.
 
“Since this question is probably going to come anyway, let me give the answer before I get the question,” Reid said. “Speculation is where we are starting. If the Republicans really want to legislate, dealing with energy, we can do this.”
 
Reid told reporters that the Democratic leadership does not oppose more drilling but believes it should happen on lands already leased by the federal government to oil companies.
 
“First of all, we must pressure oil companies to get the oil on the 68 million acres they already lease both on and offshore,” he said. (Republicans and the oil industry say leases cannot be considered idle just because they’re not producing oil. Many leases are being explored and developed -- a time-consuming process. Furthermore, if a company does not develop a lease within a certain period of time, it must return it to the federal government, forfeiting all its costs, according to the American Petroleum Institute.)
 
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that oil demand, not supply, is driving fuel prices up.
 
“I know our colleagues will say that new drilling is the number one way to solve the problems we face,” he said. “We believe we can’t drill our way out of this problem. The demand for oil and fossil fuel products is overwhelming. China and India will double their use over the next few years.”
 
Republicans Sens. Corker and Voinovich told Cybercast News Service they believe there is strong bipartisan support for lifting the ban.
 
“I can just tell you that there is a very, very strong bipartisan vote,” Corker said. “If people were allowed a vote of conscience, we could definitely pass it [lifting the moratorium] in the Senate,” he added. “But I am not a vote counter and I am not sure what the Democratic leadership is doing to encourage folks not to vote for it, even though their conscience may be in a different area.”
 
Congress imposed a moratorium on offshore drilling in 1981 and has extended it annually for all coastal waters, except for parts of the Gulf of Mexico and some waters off the coast of Alaska.
 
On Monday President Bush lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling, and he is urging Congress to follow his lead.