Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to forge a bipartisan coalition on domestic oil drilling, Politico reports. Republican senators believe they can sway enough moderate Democrats on an amendment to end a federal ban on coastline drilling—allowing a dramatic shift in US energy policy, and reaping a big victory for the GOP.
Republicans will have to concede some political ground if the maneuver is to succeed: “What the Republicans have proposed is not particularly aggressive,” one Democratic aide said. “Both sides will have to give a little. Republicans will have to give in on conservation, and Democrats will have to give in on domestic production.” (More offshore oil stories.)