"We need to get after exploration here in America," Bush said in remarks to the Coalition for Affordable American Energy. "So when Congress comes back, they need to act and they don't need to gimmick up the legislation. They need to allow there to be an up-or-down vote."
After a week-long trip to Asia and a recent focus on Russia's clash with Georgia, Bush is returning to an issue that is consuming rank-and-file Republican lawmakers and consumers still struggling with high prices at the gasoline pump. House Republicans have vowed to remain on Capitol Hill through August to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., refusal to allow a vote on expanded offshore drilling.
Bush, who lifted an executive ban on offshore drilling last month, said Congress should remove the moratorium contained in the Interior Department's annual appropriations legislation as soon as the Congressional recess ends next month.
Democrats, responding to GOP pressure on the issue, accuse Republicans of working on behalf of Big Oil and say expanded drilling wouldn't reduce prices in the near term. Their proposed remedy includes the release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a strategy the White House has long opposed.
"The Democratic leadership's gotta listen to the people on this issue," Bush said in calling for a vote on drilling. "The Democratic leadership should bring up a clean bill, give the members a chance to vote up or down on whether or not we should proceed with offshore drilling and not insert any legislative poison pills."
Bush also used his brief remarks to renew his call for "environmentally friendly" drilling in northern Alaska, oil-shale exploration and expanded refining capacity.