This was a vote on an amendment by Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) that would have banned oil and gas drilling from taking place off the coast of Washington State without the approval of Washington’s governor and state legislature. This amendment was offered to legislation requiring the Secretary of the Interior to auction leases for oil and gas drilling in the most oil-rich regions of the Outer Continental Shelf (specifically, those areas with more than 2.5 billion barrels of oil or 7.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas).

Inslee urged support for his amendment: “I rise to protect the beaches and shoreline and economy of the state of Washington. This amendment is quite simple. It would simply say that we will not allow the federal government to run over the State of Washington on issues of drilling off of our coastline, that we won't be shackled to this antiquated policy of drilling without first providing reasonable protection… Basically our position is we don't think in the state of Washington, or any state, and particularly the state of Washington, which is the Evergreen State, we ought to have this policy foisted upon us that is not an evergreen energy policy for this century...”

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) opposed the amendment: “…This bill is focused on increasing American-made energy, creating new jobs, and decreasing our dependence on energy from foreign nations. Congress needs to focus on increasing energy production, and this amendment goes in the opposite direction. In fact, this amendment attempts to impose unprecedented and impossible obstacles to fostering more American energy in federal waters.”

The House rejected this amendment by a vote of 160-256. Voting “yea” were 150 Democrats—including a majority of progressives—and 10 Republicans. 220 Republicans and 36 Democrats voted “nay.” As a result, the House rejected an amendment that would have banned oil and gas drilling from taking place off the coast of Washington State without the approval of Washington’s governor and state legislature.