Dems Cave On Offshore Drilling

After months spent vowing to protect the nation's coastlines from new offshore oil drilling, House Democrats yesterday caved to the White House over the thorny issue, saying they will allow a 26-year-old ban on new exploration to expire.

If it stands, the move will permit oil companies to drill beyond three miles from both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts -- a far larger area than allowed under a Democratic proposal that passed the House last week. That bill would have prevented new drilling up to 50 miles from shore, but Democratic leaders, anxious to get out of town for the election season, abandoned their fight to avoid a budget battle with the White House -- which threatened to veto the legislation.

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