On Wednesday, President Bush urged Congress to lift a federal ban on offshore oil drilling and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

President Bush: “So this morning I asked Democratic congressional leaders to move forward with four steps to expand American oil and gasoline production. First, we should expand American oil production by increasing access to the Outer Continental Shelf, or OCS. Experts believe that the OCS could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil. That would be enough to match America’s current oil production for almost ten years.”

Bush’s comments came just days after Republican presidential candidate John McCain said the lifting of the ban on offshore oil drilling is needed to combat rising gas prices. Since McCain’s original statement, his own advisers have begun acknowledging that lifting the ban would have no immediate effect on supplies or prices. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has opposed offshore oil drilling. On Wednesday, Congressman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois says the Democratic leadership will fight efforts to lift the ban.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel: “We will not scare the American people into doing something that they should not do at this point, given the oil industry holds leases today, fourteen years worth of energy supply that would — ability of us to literally wean off of foreign dependence. And so, we would have a very sensible, commonsense, but strategically thought through approach that includes both supply and demand as it relates to conservation and efficiency.”