With President Bush lifting today the executive ban on offshore drilling, the Democrat Leadership in Congress in the only barrier left standing in the way of opening up our nation's energy resources.

Until about a month ago, the Democrats' mantra in regards to drilling was "we can't drill our way into energy independence."  But then they noticed the overwhelming support from Americans, regardless of political party, for increased energy production here in the U.S.. The pressure was apparently  too great to ignore so they started to echo faintly the Republican support for drilling.

Don't be taken by the Democrats empty rhetoric. According to The Hill newspaper, "Speaker Pelosi has already shut the door on expanded oil and gas drilling beyond areas that have already been approved for energy exploration."

If Speaker Pelosi was really concerned about increasing America's energy production to lower gas prices, she'd open up ANWR as well as follow President Bush's lead in allowing offshore energy production and further exploration of our enormous supplies of oil shale.

It's all up to Speaker Pelosi. She must make the next move.