WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush on Saturday tried to pin the blame on Congress for soaring energy prices and said lawmakers need to lift long-standing restrictions on drilling for oil in pristine lands and offshore tracts believed to hold huge reserves of fuel.

Democrats say they are for drilling, but argue that oil companies aren’t going after the oil where they already have leases. Democrats say there are 68 million acres of federal land and waters where oil and gas companies hold leases, but aren’t producing oil.

“Americans are fed up every time they go to fill up and they’re right to demand action. But instead of a serious response, President Bush and his allies simply repeat the same old line more drilling,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said in the Democrats’ radio address.

“We know that drilling by itself will not solve the problem of high gas prices,” Van Hollen said. “We cannot drill our way to energy independence.”

Bush repeated his call for Congress to lift the restrictions. A succession of presidents from George H.W. Bush to Bill Clinton to the current president have sided against drilling in these waters as has Congress each year for 27 years, seeking to protect beaches and coastal states’ tourism economies.