WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday he’s leading a new, bipartisan “Gang of 10” senators who’ve drafted a comprehensive energy bill that would lift decades-old bans on offshore drilling and nuclear-waste reprocessing. The New Energy Reform Act of 2008 is a bid to bridge the divide between Democrats and Republicans who spent July accusing each other of neglecting the impact of record gasoline prices on their constituents. “There is no greater problem facing average Americans and small businesses today than high fuel costs and our nation’s dependency on foreign oil,” Graham said. “Our proposal is not perfect, but it is a bipartisan start on the road to a comprehensive energy strategy leading to independence from foreign oil.” For Graham, a Seneca Republican running for re-election, the new initiative reprises his controversial role in the “Gang of 14” two years ago. Then, he and a baker’s dozen other senators from both parties reached a compromise on President Bush’s judicial nominations. Many conservative activists have never forgiven Graham for moving to block a bid by some Republicans, who then controlled the Senate, to require only 51 votes to break Democratic filibusters of the Bush nominees instead of the traditional 60 votes. ...
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