Burton, Bachmann want House on record for drilling

A dozen members led by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and including Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) introduced the resolution below on Wednesday.

From the Congressional Record:

By Mr. BURTON of Indiana (for himself, Mrs. BACHMANN, Mr. OLSON, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. HUELSKAMP, Mr. LONG, Mr. CRITZ, Mr. POMPEO, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. WITTMAN, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, and Mr. PAUL): 

H. Res. 44. A resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that an effective moratorium by the Executive Branch on offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling should be terminated; to the Committee on Natural Resources.

The resolution comes as Republicans and some Democrats are bashing the Interior Department for failing to resume issuing deepwater drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico, even though the formal moratorium was lifted in October.

A senior Interior official recently said he expects to begin permitting again in the first half of the year but didn't provide specifics.

Pro-drilling members — including Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) — have also attacked the Obama administration for abandoning plans for oil-and-gas leasing off the Atlantic Coast and deeper into the eastern Gulf of Mexico.