Congress is set to weigh in on the increasing burden gasoline prices are placing on the American public with legislation intended to bring down the per gallon cost of fuel by limiting oil market speculation.

At the same time a bipartisan group in the House and another in the Senate are seeking to jump-start stalled energy legislation that would serve to expand domestic oil and gas drilling operation including drilling in new regions of the outer continental shelf.

Democrats on a whole, however, are opposed to offshore drilling and have resisted efforts to lift the ban on such operations and to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to exploration. Both President Bush and congressional Republicans are solidly in favor of both moves.

Both Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska and Johnny Isakson R-Georgia expressed a desire for a compromise, however, that would allow the increased drilling. Meeting behind closed doors on Wednesday, the bipartisan groups were seeking to draw up legislation that could hopefully be introduced before Congress goes into recess in August.

In the house, where the 23-member bipartisan "energy working group" is roughly divided in its party affiliation, Rep. John Peterson, R-Pennsylvania said bluntly, "Locking up offshore is the dumbest thing we ever did." While environmentalists would object strenuously to Peterson's viewpoint, the extremity of the times are likely to pave the way for acceptance of any measure that would ease the growing economic burden on the American public.