Can We Drill Now?

Events in Libya remind everyone, who does not have a "D" after his name, that we need to increase domestic oil production.

Key House Republicans plan to argue next month that the Obama administration should act swiftly to issue offshore oil-and-gas drilling permits amid the political unrest in Libya and other countries.

The House Natural Resources Committee said Wednesday it is holding two hearings in March on what Republicans have termed the administration’s “de facto moratorium” on deepwater oil-and-gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

The administration has issued no deepwater permits since the last year's BP spill, and has slowed the pace for shallow-water projects.