Drilling fight could disrupt government

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's refusal to hold a vote on allowing new domestic oil drilling could result in a shutdown of the U.S. government, observers said.

House Republicans could refuse to support a temporary budget measure to keep the government funded beyond Sept. 30 if Democrats include in the legislation an extension of the congressional moratorium on offshore drilling, The San Francisco Chronicle reported Sunday.

The current moratorium is set to expire at the end of September.

Republicans have said they will block the spending bill or urge President George W. Bush to veto it.

A federal shutdown could lead to thousands of federal workers being furloughed, national parks being closed and benefits checks to veterans being delayed, the report said.

"So Republicans are going to tell seniors, 'You're being squeezed by high gas prices and high grocery prices and now we're going to cut off your Social Security checks?'" said Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said Democrats should drop the drilling bans.

"As far as I'm concerned, those bans end Sept. 30. And if they end on Sept. 30, fuel prices will head back down on Oct. 1," he said.