New York Times: Democrats and Republicans clashed over energy issues on Tuesday as the House prepared for a vote later in the evening on a bill to relax a ban on offshore oil drilling for the first time in a quarter-century. The vote would be on a Democratic measure to allow oil rigs 50 miles off the shores of states that welcome drilling and 100 miles off virtually any section of the United States. But parts of Florida`s Gulf Coast, where large natural gas deposits have been found, would be off …