Err ... it's a fact. No significant oil will come from any change in drilling that Congress makes ... at least not for many, many years.
They can drill RIGHT NOW. Oil companies own 30+ million acres of offshore sites that they are failing to extract any oil from right now, for whatever reason.
I've suggested the following:
reducing any speculative premium being added to the price of oil, and
ensure that a little as possible oligopolistic price fixing premiums are being included in the cost of gasoline.... and
maybe more diplomacy with the Saudis.
For help a little further down the road, I've also suggested...
Encourage bio-diesel conversions,
More encouragement for alternative fuel sources at filling stations (natural gas, E85, etc),
Increase incentives to develop alternate techs (better batteries, fuel cells, TDP, compressed air engines!)
Stiffer fuel efficiency standards,
Reduced tariffs on fuel-efficient imports (SMARTcars, minis, and such),
perhaps even subsidize mass transit development throughout the country, and of course,
Use diplomacy to improve relations with the Middle East (aka Vote Obama!)