WASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders took a hard line Thursday against opening up restricted areas to oil production as Republicans threatened to try to keep Congress in session this summer unless they got a vote on new drilling opportunities.

As the political and policy fight over gasoline prices escalated, the White House rejected a call by Democrats to release oil from the nation’s strategic reserves in an effort to lower prices by increasing supply.

Tony Fratto, a White House spokesman, said, “We’d like to see members think a little bit more long term and take advantage of the opportunity that we have to do drilling from our domestic sources.”

Even as some Democratic lawmakers called on Congress to open up restricted areas to drilling, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House speaker, said the government must first press oil companies to explore the federal land they have already leased. She dismissed the push to lift the ban on drilling as a Republican effort to shift blame for price increases that occurred during the Bush administration.

“This call for drilling in areas that are protected is a hoax,” Ms. Pelosi said. “It’s an absolute hoax on the part of the Republicans and this Bush administration.”

The cost of gasoline has become a dominant election-year topic, and both Democrats and Republicans returned to Capitol Hill from a one-week break pushing for a legislative response to a problem that has the public up in arms.

But a significant divide remains between the parties’ leaders. Republicans are rallying behind a demand for lifting a longtime ban on drilling offshore along much of the nation’s coastline and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, said he would lead a delegation of Republicans next week to the Arctic refuge, in Alaska, as well as to a renewable-energy facility outside Denver.

“We’re not going to leave here for the August recess until we get a vote on having more American-made energy,” Mr. Boehner said.

House Democrats plan to push ahead with their own legislation that would prohibit oil companies from seeking rights to drill on new public land unless they can demonstrate they are actively exploring existing holdings. They also intend to call on the Bush administration to speed up leasing in a part of Alaska that has already been set aside as a petroleum reserve.

The measures are an effort by Democrats to show they are focused on oil production, an emphasis highlighted by less talk about conservation and new technologies as a quick fix for high energy prices.

But with public anxiety growing over gasoline prices, some Democrats say their party has to move beyond encouraging exploration on tracts already owned by oil companies and open new, potentially productive areas to exploration.

Leaders of a coalition of moderate and conservative Democrats known as the Blue Dogs have stepped up their push for drilling both in the Arctic refuge and offshore, saying the oil royalties produced could pay for research into new energy technologies.

“I propose that we drill in ANWR,” said Representative Mike Ross, Democrat of Arkansas, referring to the refuge. “We’ve already got a pipeline going to Alaska, the ANWR, that can handle two million barrels a day. We’re only putting one million in it. Let’s fill it up.”

But Ms. Pelosi, who considers energy legislation a personal priority, does not appear ready to shift her view, based on discussions in a private meeting with members of the leadership on Thursday. According to accounts from those present, Ms. Pelosi said that if Democrats relented on drilling, “then we might as well pack it up and go home.”

Ms. Pelosi instead forged ahead with the effort to encourage the White House to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, even listing the White House telephone number and e-mail address on a poster at a news conference to encourage consumers to join the appeal. She said the release of less than 10 percent of the 700 million barrels of oil in the reserve would influence the price at the pump “now, within 10 days, not within 10 years.”

Even with profound differences in the approaches of the two parties, some lawmakers say it is still possible that new energy legislation could clear Congress this year. Members of the Senate have begun drafting bipartisan initiatives to prod their leadership into action.

Democrats say they also have to consider the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama and make sure their initiatives mesh with his. But lawmakers also warn that no matter what legislation, if any, they end up with, the problem defies easy solution.

“There is no silver bullet,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

Lee ADDS: If you really think about Nancy Pelosi’s demands that we use our nation’s Emergency Reserve Oil Supply as a, ‘fix,’ you will see that she has no thoughts of the real ‘why’ this Emergency Reserve exits in the first place!

Should Iran actually close the Straits of Hormus after were used the Emergency Reserves, then what? Nothing to be used and what would our military do?

Nancy Pelosi has ideas but her ideas are going to destroy America!