President George W. Bush asked Congress Wednesday to lift the ban on offshore oil drilling, saying it could eventually yield 18 billion barrels of oil.

The White House characterizes his call as a new position for Bush, who has kept in place a separate executive order that also bars offshore drilling. Bush said that if Congress lifts its ban, he will lift the executive restriction. But he wants Congress to take the step first.

"Americans are looking to Washington for a response," Bush said. "We need to increase supply, especially here at home."

For a quarter-century, drilling for oil and gas off nearly all the American coastline has been banned in part to protect tourism and to lessen the chances of beach-blackening spills, but now gasoline prices top $4 a gallon.

Bush's request comes a day after Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, made the same call in a speech to oil executives in Houston.

"As for offshore drilling, it's safe enough these days that not even Hurricanes Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage from the battered rigs off the coasts of New Orleans and Houston," McCain said. "Yet for reasons that become less convincing with every rise in the price of foreign oil, the federal government discourages offshore production."

Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, opposes lifting the ban on offshore drilling and said that allowing exploration now wouldn't affect gasoline prices for at least five years.

Bush argued that it's high time to battle high prices with increased domestic production.

He said states should decide where to allow drilling.

Legislation that would continue the ban into late 2009 was postponed Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee. The Appropriations Committee say it's delaying the vote because the panel plans to take up disaster relief measures involving the Midwest flooding.

Congressional Democrats, joined by some GOP lawmakers from coastal states, have opposed lifting the prohibition.

Florida's Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, a McCain supporter, has dropped his long-standing support for the federal government's moratorium on offshore oil drilling and endorsed McCain's proposal to let states decide.

The governor said he reversed his position because of rising fuel prices and states' rights. Crist is considered a possible running mate for McCain, the Republican presidential nominee.

"I mean, let's face it, the price of gas has gone through the roof, and Florida families are suffering," Crist said Tuesday. "And my heart bleeds for them."

Democrats immediately pounced on McCain's proposal, saying countries that allow offshore drilling have even higher prices and that oil companies don't need more offshore drilling areas because they have failed to fully exploit their current leases.

Last year, Crist urged federal lawmakers to reject legislation, which they did, that would have allowed drilling as close as 45 miles off Florida's beaches. He also supported the moratorium during his 2006 campaign for governor.

Most Florida politicians have opposed drilling because they fear it would harm beaches vital to the state's tourism economy and interfere with weapons testing and training in and over the Gulf of Mexico by Florida military bases.

Democrats also argued additional offshore drilling would not affect prices set on the world market.

"It would only increase oil companies' record-breaking profits," said Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski.