Gulf Coast senators will continue their efforts to chip away at the Obama administration's deepwater drilling moratorium Thursday.

Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-La.) has called a hearing of the committee to receive a report from the administration about the effect the moratorium has had on small businesses.

She demanded the economic impact data in July after administration officials failed to have it for a previous hearing. Landrieu said Christina Romer, chairwoman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, told her outside the hearing that the administration did not have such data but could assemble it by mid-September.

The moratorium has been unpopular among political leaders on the Gulf Coast, because oil production is a significant part of the local economy. The committee includes two of Landrieu's fellow Gulf Coast lawmakers, Sens. David Vitter (R-La.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).

Vitter and Landrieu shared center stage at the July hearing and an August field hearing in Lafayette, La. In both instances they heard from a string of witnesses who said the moratorium was severely damaging Louisiana's petroleum-dependent economy. Several small business owners testified that the effects of the moratorium were trickling down to them.

Officials at the Interior Department, which is enforcing the moratorium, have said it is needed for oil companies to improve their safety practices.

Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said last week that the moratorium is not expected to be extended past its scheduled Nov. 30 expiration.

But he said the administration would consider lifting it early if the industry complies with current and future safety regulations.

Schedule: The hearing is Thursday, Sept. 16, at 10 a.m. in 428-A Russell.

Witnesses: TBA.