Well, here's one piece of good news coming out of D.C.: The Senate — including five Republicans — voted to reject a bill that would have expanded offshore drilling. Of course, that might be because there are already plenty of new drilling permits being issued (53 shallow-water permits under the new post-Gulf spill regulations), so it's not like we're halting the practice here. Still, we like anything that makes Mitch McConnell go red in the face, and this bill was one of his babies.
The rejected bill would have made it easier to push permits through hastily, according to the White House. Among other things, the bill would have required automatic approval of any permit that took longer than 60 days to process. Imagine if that applied to, say, college admissions. "Hmm, it says here you applied in December, and it's now March. Guess you're in! Welcome to Yale, Mr. Bush."
