The conference report on the budget is expected out and ready for a vote
in both the House and Senate, possibly this week.  See mentions of Nussle
below.

Phyllis


 



E&E DAILY
Thursday, April 28, 2005 

ANWR

Budget deal with Arctic drilling appears imminent
Ben Geman, E&E Daily reporter
The House and Senate last night continued pursuing a final deal to allow
votes in each chamber this week on a $2.6 trillion budget resolution that
would pave the way for opening the Arctic National Wildlife refuge to oil
drilling. 

Aides say the two sides appeared close yesterday to bridging gaps between
the chambers on cuts to mandatory spending, but questions over how deeply
to cut Medicaid had reportedly slowed the talks. 

The Senate package assumed $2.5 billion in federal revenues from ANWR
development, but the House package heading into conference did not. The
House is expected to agree -- at least implicitly -- with opening ANWR
through the budget process, but it was not clear at press time precisely
how the agreement would be worded in the resolution. 

Aides indicate the budget language may include no explicit mention of
ANWR with the understanding that the Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee and the House Resources Committee would use the subsequent
reconciliation process to lift restrictions. Reconciliation, which would
occur months after the deal on the resolution, is the process by which
committees make legislative changes as needed to fit budget projections. 

Sean Spicer, a spokesman for House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle
(R-Iowa), indicated Nussle would not attempt to prevent ANWR from being
developed through budget reconciliation, even though the House budget did
not initially assume ANWR revenues. 

"That's not our decision," he said, noting the Resources Committee is
free to find savings as they see fit. "We can't preclude them from doing
it." 

Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), the chair of the resources panel, is among
the strongest House supporters of developing ANWR's coastal plain. 

ANWR development is supported by the House leadership and is contained in
the House comprehensive energy bill. But Senate lawmakers do not have the
votes to overcome a filibuster if they try and open ANWR through energy
legislation, prompting use of budget legislation immune from filibuster. 

A House vote is expected as soon as today if a deal can be reached
between the chambers, while the Senate also hopes to complete votes on
the budget resolution before going into recess at the end of the week. 

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