Puzzling Republicans

As I consign more Republican fund-raising letters from yesterday's mail to the trash can, maybe someone who understands better than I do how Congress operates can help me out here. If (as the WSJ's editors explain) the Democrats won't even allow a discussion (forget about a vote, just a discussion) of drilling for more oil, why are Republicans not blocking the reprehensible housing bail-out? And why on earth is the President going to sign it?