On the Spot (CNSNews.com) - At his weekly pen and pad briefing for reporters, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer refused to answer a Capitol Hill reporter’s repeated question about whether he would vote to support expanded offshore drilling.
 
While gas hovers over $4 per gallon and polls show a majority of Americans support expanded domestic oil drilling, Republicans and some top Democrats have pushed the issue on Capitol Hill, demanding for instance, a vote to lift a federal ban on offshore drilling.
 
When repeatedly asked about this point last Wednesday, Hoyer refused to answer. The exchange between the reporter and Hoyer went as follows:
 
Reporter: “Sen. Reid [D-Nev.] and Sen. Bingaman [D-N.M.] are proposing opening up leases in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. Would you support such a proposal?”
 
Hoyer: “As I have said, we talk as if somehow there was a moratorium everywhere that oil is available. Eighty-one percent of oil resources are currently available. What we say is, ‘If we can find new product we want to do that. If you want to drill, we want you to drill, and in fact, if you don’t want to drill, we want to make sure those leases are available to others to drill.’ But this argument has all been about what is not available at this time. We believe there are other alternatives.”
 
Reporter: “To follow up, your answer on expanded drilling, do I understand that you meant you would not support expanded drilling in new areas until these unused 68 million acres are used and exhausted?”
 
Hoyer: “What you understood me to say – and what I will say again – is that we believe that we have a lot already, ready to go.”
 
Reporter: “Yes, I know, but people are proposing to expand it even further.”
 
Hoyer: “I know this argument: ‘We got this table but, gee whiz, why don’t you let me use the table next door? Well this table is doing pretty well thanks and the table next door is smaller, etc, etc.’ I am a lawyer, and I don’t want you all to hold that against me too badly, but we have this great saying that I am sure some of you know: ‘If you have the law, pound on the law. If you have the facts, pound on the facts. If you have neither the law nor the facts, pound on the table.’
 
“The Republicans have neither the law nor the facts. The economy is disastrous. The administration is at 27 percent favorability in the country. The generic spread between Democrats and Republicans is 15 points. It’s the biggest I have seen since I have been in the Congress of the United States.
 
“Their energy policy hasn’t worked. Oil prices went from a $1.46 to almost $4.15. What they are trying to do is divert everyone’s attention from the fact there is not an oil rig in the world available to drill right now. We are drilling at capacity.”
 
Reporter: “But in other words...”
 
Hoyer: “What we are simply saying, and I will reiterate, is ‘sit down at this table and use it. If this table doesn’t suffice, then yes, let’s look further.’”
 
Reporter: “So you don’t support expanding leases off Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico until what is available is used?”
 
Hoyer: “We are discussing, as the Senate has discussed, and we have talked about the possibility of looking at what is available in other places – yes.”
 
Reporter: “Okay, so ....”
 
Hoyer: “But again ... you keep asking the questions the Republicans want you to ask, and I don’t think they put you up to it. But they keep talking about drilling. Go Drill!”
 
Reporter: “Okay, but ....”
 
Hoyer: “Nobody is stopping anybody from drilling. You know you have these 313 million acres available and 88 million leased, and they are talking about things that are not available as if somehow there is a magic bullet. There is no magic bullet. The Republicans are not being honest with the American people.”
 
Reporter: “But there's ....”
 
Hoyer: “They are misleading the American people that somehow the problem is that we are not drilling in areas of the OCS [Outer Continental Shelf] off California.”
 
Reporter: “But there is a Democratic proposal in the Senate. They want to expand these leases off Alaska and off the Gulf of Mexico. It could come to the House and, if so ....”
 
Hoyer: “Well, if it comes to the House, we will consider it.”