Bill To End Offshore Drilling Ban Passes

Omnibus Spending Bill, Heavy On Defense, Heads To Bush; Includes Aid To Disaster Victims, Loans To Auto Companies

(CBS/AP)  Senators have passed a spending bill that aids Gulf Coast disaster victims and subsidizes federal loans for automakers. President Bush is expected to sign the measure despite some reservations.

The 78-12 vote Saturday also lifts a quarter-century ban on oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. That's a big victory for Republicans.

The $634 billion bill also would provide money to keep the government running past the current budget year, which ends Tuesday, and keep domestic agencies at current levels until March - effectively punting their budgets to the next president and Congress.

The measure is dominated by $488 billion for the Pentagon, $40 billion for the Homeland Security Department, and $73 billion for veterans' programs and military base construction projects - amounting to about 60 percent of the budget work Congress must pass each year.

The stopgap measure to keep the government in business was needed because the budget process broke down this year. Agencies would be funded through March 6 or until their regular budgets pass.

After hard lobbying, automakers won up to $25 billion in low-interest loans to help them develop technologies and retool factories to meet new standards for cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars.

Republicans say ending the drilling ban should lower gasoline prices. Democrats say it won't mean additional oil production for years.

The budget legislation is the result of months of wrangling between Democrats who control Congress and the lame-duck Bush administration and its allies on Capitol Hill. The administration won approval of the defense budget while Democrats wrested concessions from the White House to obtain $23 billion in disaster aid and $5.1 billion for heating subsidies for the poor.

Smaller spending increases would gear up the Census Bureau for the 2010 count, boost spending for Pell college grants to avoid shortfalls, and fix problems in the Women, Infants and Children program, which delivers healthy foods to the poor.

The lifting of the offshore oil drilling moratorium does not mean drilling is imminent. But it could set the stage for the government to offer leases in some Atlantic federal waters as early as 2011.

The legislation also contains 2,322 pet projects totaling $6.6 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group. That included 2,025 in the defense portion alone that cost a total of $4.9 billion.

[gheemaster38]

Does this mean oil prices will plummet downward??

[lewiston14]

Make that almost 12 trillion. You forgot the 700 billion on top of the 634 billion. I hope you dont work because for every $10 you make you will only keep $1

Another victory for "trickle-down" economics.

[lewiston14]

Its like yellow rain.

Don''t start hyperventilating, the Democrats will just pass another drilling ban after the election when they will have increased majorities and are not subject to presidential veto.

[lewiston14]

"We''''re going to spend ourselves into oblivion"

It not us its them.

[gehr3]

bush needs to leave now.

[lewiston14]

"bush needs to leave now.

Posted by gehr3

As soon as you figure out how please share it with us in the forum :)

[tincup356]

I just wonder when all you stupid dyed in the wool party liners are going to wake up and see through the smokescreen Washington has put up? The people whoa are currently in every seat of congress are the threat to America , Not terrorists as they would have you think. they are taking one last go at robbing the till to the ultimate sense.The only reason they are in a hurry to pass this bill is to pull it off before everything crumbles under them and they are scared to face the music . There are two groups of voters 1. the party liners , who would vote for the devil if his party nominated him, knowing fully well nothing would ever change for the better, 2.True Americans, who love this country and are tired of having the constitution and bill of rights wadded up and thrown in the trash. next month I pray Americans show up at the polls and send a very clear message ...you did not represent me and you ruined our economy therefore we will vote out EVERY SINGLE INCUMBENT and will seek prosecution to strip you of everything you have or ever will have PERIOD So the question is? Which way are you going to vote? A. to support the destruction of the country we love by voting party line . or B. vote as Americans and lets cut this cancer of corruption that keeps us from being great again, AMERICAN''S the ball is in your court.

[negro-vote-]

Obama Democrats lose again.

LOL

[lewiston14]

tincup356: While I agree with you post it has one fatal flaw. You can never get much over 50% to agree to anything. The reason things will stay the same. Congress may gain or loose a few seats but not by a veto proof margin. The numbers are not going to change that much.

[tincup356]

kinda makes ya think what have they done for me? can any of you party liners give a hint of what they have done for you? better figure it out now cause if you don''t, you will be paying the bill just like the rest of us, it''s not just time for GW to go, but time for ALL of them to go.

[tincup356]

your missing the point lewiston...I mean they need to be voted out never to return period...ALL OF THEM these two parties are no different that the "bloods or the crypt''s" they just wear finer clothing that we pay for.Wake up people it out to be a public shame to admit being a part of either party

[lewiston14]

"it''''s not just time for GW to go, but time for ALL of them to go."

Posted by tincup356

If it is not so easy to do. Tin favor you got an extra tin cup can I have it? I think ill need it for the soup line.

[mbw512]

What a joke. As usual like Obama this bill isn''t going to do much for our present condition for depend oil with this congress. Like Senator Obama, congress voted present. While spending our tax payers money? They should have put a few more earmarks in so the package would be complete.

[missingamerica]

"That''s a big victory for Republicans."

Trying to remember anything over the last 28 years that was termed a "big victory" for the Republicans and ended up being good for America in the here-and-now or the America our children will inherit...

I keep drawing a blank.

[tincup356]

i guess all you party liners are busy writing down your arm length lists of what your party has done for you?....I didn''t think so. the bottom line is this if you support either party you support the financial death of all of us. remember that you you push the straight party ticket next month as all you have ever saved or will save goes out the door and the fat cats on wall street laugh again.

[lewiston14]

tincup356" I understand what you are saying but not that many in congress are on the copping block this year. The whole system does not run in four year cycles. Protection for them.

[tincup356]

if this congress is not removed we will never end costly military interventions which is a major reason we are in the boat we are.its not just bad mortgages that have caused this mess and put us where we are.bank credit cards,wild wall street speculation that sent oil flying when a cloud appeared on the gulf and never went back down, then it snowballed outward raising the costs of everything except our wages,people couldn''t make payment because the price of everything doubled to tripled.meanwhile back at the ranch, any body with Govt. ties through the lobby industry went to the bank big time , and thus we hard working Americans trusted the two great parties have been totally shafted by them as corporate America, the KBR"s and the Exxon''s, laugh all the way to Dubia , to build gold temples.

[zwaggsy]

Nice dream tincup356. Unfortunately people only ever seem to consider 2 options, here in the UK we have 3 principal party''s: Labour Conservative & the Liberal Democrats. The Lib dem''s haven''t been in power for over 80 years now despite having some off the most level headed and dignified (please don''t laugh) in the business.
People *** like mad about the other 2 parties but still look upon the third option as a wasted vote.

Fact is no-one votes for the nice guy or common sense.

[tincup356]

gotta start somewhere lewiston, the message has to be sent to incumbents that we are the ones that vote them in

[tincup356]

you have to start taking on the bullies on the block or they will own you forever

[tincup356]

they won''t have a chance when 30 million retiring baby boomer''s get officially screwed out of what they are still taking out of everyones checks and still say its gone? i can see em now coming down penns. ave. with the beatles "say ya wanna revolution"playing in the background

[zwaggsy]

Uh Sky_Five?

I''m looking at the storey & that little bit off info IS right there (6th para from bottom)!

[lemonskink]

Now gas will be 30 cents a gallon. Yippee...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcZSh1diQRQ

[jtdev1]

I wonder what the next excuse will be for the sky high gas prices.

No longer will I hear anything about offshore drilling bans.

I bet it will be Alaska.

[williewomper]

The Big Winner, once again, the F******g Oil companies...Greedy Dinosaur Juice sucking Ba****ds!

[tincup356]

its simply a time to cut waste spending, 1.Stop the war and come home, KBR and the Carlyle group aka Bush and sons, have cost and embezzled enough.little do people read but they also approved 488 billion on another bill to pay for pentagon budget also.We are not the big policeman of the world and cannot afford to be. 2.vote out all incumbents up this election and the rest next time, rescind their retirement plan of full paychecks for life, and criminally prosecute every one who has voted for on any bill that took monies from social security, confiscate all their wealth as they would anyone of us citizens who gained from illegal activities, call lobbying what it is ...BRIBERY...which is punishable under law for citizens.3.dismantle FEMA and Homeland security as we will have troops home to guard or own borders.besides there has not been one single case where money going to either department has benefited anyone it was meant to benefit and both have been a huge failure and waste.

[tincup356]

anybody ever wonder how we won WW2without spending billions of dollars for security like blackwater? Americas best terrorists for the most dollars.

[tincup356]

i wonder how many party liners will go to the polls next week and thank this Bi-partisan effort to rob us blind, save their bad investments, and to spread as much debt around to corporate America, that we the taxpayers will pay for years to come?If McCain and Obama are the best congress has to offer , my friends we are in deep trouble.they could do as well picking from any federal prison full of lifetime felons.After all every single one of the congressmen in office today are bribe takers

[praiseallah1]

Read Paulsons "Nigerian Scam Letter" he sent to Nancy Pelosi at http://www.WallStreetMarketNews.com on the front page of their Official Blog.

Funniest thing I ever read and it''s all true! I''m emailing it to everyone I know!

[oregon4usa]

And where was McCain? Last night he said he was going to Washington to FIGHT, FIGHT I tell you Dag Nab it!!! against this pork filled pinata.
Oh, yeah, he had to hide out in his campaign office 10 minutes from where the vote took place.

[tincup356]

yeah they are real cute , get everyones attention to the big crash they want us to envision, while they go into the next room and pass bills that neither side wanted to concede , but lets bail out everyone but the people they can pay the tab.Are all you proud supporters of both parties proud of your crooks in suits? Sorry there will not be vasoline passed out with this corporate stimulus as the greedy ba$tards don''t care if it hurts, its not them.over 500 billion more than they are trying to give wall street EXTRA that make congress wanting to spend over a trillion dollars under our noses and make us pay for it. BS!to heck with get a rope ...get a whole trainload of em

[tincup356]

dmw why dont you wake up you must be a party zombie or else you dont want anyone to tell you the truth , your one of those who can just blame the other party, NO you go on fella you are a disgrace to America

[tincup356]

i will not cease to scream as loud as i can to put down both parties and ALL their Zombie brainwashed followers, either your for or against the very organized criminal effort going on in the halls of congress, if you choose to follow either one of these parties you support the bankruptcy of a lot of hard working Americans.Not to mention ...How many more lives have to be lost before the war mongers stop?

[mccaino8nc]

They never want us to use solar or wind, because they want us keep on buying their oil, not Iran oil, Not Venezuela oil, not Iraq oil,......just Texas oil.

Posted by niceface69
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a quick question what can solar and wind do to power the 200 million gas burning cars in the US. I am all for alternative power but we have to be realistic We are going to need oil for atleast another 15-20 years and thats if the car makers stop producing gas burning cars with in the next five years.

[lmartink]

"After hard lobbying, automakers won up to $25 billion in low-interest loans to help them develop technologies and retool factories..."

Excuse me, but enough is enough. Detroit was producing slugbus SUVs galore when gas prices spiked, and now I''m supposed to bail them out too. Sorry, but I can''t afford it. It''s not my fault that Japan was producing high-mileage cars, and Detroit had their heads where the Sun don''t shine. There was plenty of warning about gasoline prices far in advance.

I don''t know who are the bigger idiots. Detroit? Our elected legislators? Bush?

McCain and Obama were talking about earmarks just last night, and now I''m responsible for another 25 Billion to bail out Detroit. That''s Socialism -- pure and simple. It''s Socialism, and it''s going to kill us.

[mccaino8nc]

Thats a great move. Offshore drilling combined with ethanol will make US foreign oil independent in 5 years.

Posted by j-whitman3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ethanol is a joke I finally got a chance to burn some in my flex fuel Dodge Ram and even though the price was only .10 cheaper which was about 1% less. It cut my fuel milage by almost 30 percent. Gas is going have to go to about 5 or 6 dollars a gallon before ethanol will be widely used.

[tincup356]

first thing is to drop gas prices back down as after they went up when oil came back down gas did not, speculators have used every excuse you can think of and after the Incident that caused the price spike was gone the price just stayed there for the next incident to happen and go even higher, prices have not dropped from Katrina . Can you say price gouging?Interest rates and Exxon have earned as much as what these idiots in Washington want to rob us of now

[tincup356]

congress could not pass any legislation this year due to its refusal to represent the people, however in the last 8 days they have managed to waste over 500 billion more behind closed doors with most of that earmarked for the illegal privatized war, and now they are giving out billions to every aspect of Corporate America who has their hand out, offering the same deals to foreign banks,these are the same people who would not come to the cries of help after natural disasters in this country , other than to turn their heads when the insurance industry screwed millions of people i remember them saying we cant afford 100 billion to rebuild storm damage....but they can expedite a trillion to their causes now? GIVE US A BREAK

[tincup356]

l martin we are the biggest fools for letting them stay in office the grand illusion is there are not two parties on the inside only very organized crooks who make it appear otherwise to the people they promise everything then do as they please ..to the highest bidder

[tincup356]

it probably went like this..I''ll vote for your war if you add my equal earmark......

[tincup356]

and in the end joe taxpayer gets moresomed

[tincup356]

maybe its time to take a closer look at who you have been supporting? ya know there are laws against supporting terrorism.

[tincup356]

the article says "after hard lobbying by Detroit automakers"....who knows..... sounds like *** scandal to me....?

[swwils]

It is about time that someone pulled their head out of their a.s.s.,we should have been drilling 20 friggin yrs. ago.Oh the poor polar bears I forgot.I guess God wanted us to be the dominate species on this planet,since we are made in his image.It is called the cycle of the food chain,we aren''t going to go back to riding horses so polar bears can eat you if they get a chance anyway''s.

[tincup356]

instead of doing bills through the session they *** around till the last day and then agree to each other lets pass everything we want. These people are not qualified to run this country they need to be in a jail somewhere and paying restitution

[txgrouch2006]

Oil drilling? Oh, yah. THAT problem

Well, someone said that by the time Congress gets around to voting on a drilling bill to address $140/bbl oil and $4/gal gasoline, and EVEN BIGGER problem will be dominating the headlines. I wondered how that could be possible.

NOW I KNOW.

What next...

[tincup356]

why on earth would homeland security need 40 billion next year? they cant control our borders and don''t want to.this is more government bull and a vast waste of taxpayer money, this money will be used to spy on more Americans

[tincup356]

oil prices are all due to speculation run wild and never returning to the norms.oil is down almost 30% since july''s high but gas prices never came back down, its been one excuse after another , and our great representatives in congress let big oil and speculators testify...but didn''t make em take an oath, i guess pro sports players have a different set of rules to testify with.OH i forgot,,, you cant lie to congress but congress can lie to you.