Linking ANWR to budget may backfire 



HOUSE: Democrats have been united in opposition to Republican spending
plans. 


By LIZ RUSKIN
Anchorage Daily News 

Published: November 7, 2005 
Last Modified: November 7, 2005 at 01:34 AM 

WASHINGTON -- Proposals to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge have sailed through the U.S. House in recent years, only to die in
the Senate. Ironically, now that the Senate has finally passed an ANWR
drilling bill, it looks like it's in trouble in the House. 

"Sure, I'm worried about the House," Gov. Frank Murkowski acknowledged
Friday. He pushed ANWR drilling for 22 years as a U.S. senator. "I think
we all had certain assumptions that the House wasn't going to be a
problem," he said. 

For proponents of drilling, ANWR is caught in a strategic conundrum. The
drilling measure squeaked through the Senate on Thursday with 52 votes
because it was attached to a budget bill. If it had been attached to a
regular bill, opponents would have threatened to filibuster, a Senate
custom of talking a bill to death. Republicans didn't have the 60 votes
it takes to stop a filibuster, so the bill would have failed. Drilling
proponents knew they had to move ANWR on a budget bill, because that kind
of bill can't be filibustered. 

But in the House, ANWR may fail precisely because it is attached to a
budget bill. 

When refuge drilling has been part of an energy bill, some Democrats,
particularly those from oil-patch states, have voted for it, explained
Melinda Pierce, lobbyist for the Sierra Club. 

"But there's unanimity among the Democratic lawmakers when it comes to
the budget," she said. 

This spring, no House Democrats voted for the Republican budget plan,
which called for some $35 billion in cuts. It passed 214-211, with 15
Republicans also voting against it. 

Then House conservatives insisted on deeper cuts. Their budget/ANWR bill
now has almost $54 billion in cuts, including reductions to Medicaid,
food stamps and student loan programs. The House may vote on it as early
as next week. 

So Pierce and the rest of the environmental lobby are concentrating on
convincing more Republican moderates to vote against it. 

"Clearly, we're looking at all 30 (House) Republicans who've voted
against drilling in the past, and that's where we're concentrating our
grass-roots efforts," Pierce said. 

Conservation groups have been running print and television ads in eight
states, going door-to-door in certain districts, holding letter-writing
parties and demonstrating outside legislative offices. 

Drilling proponents are also concentrating on Republican moderates. A few
months ago, it would have been Rep. Tom DeLay's job to enforce party
unity. But the powerful Texas Republican, nicknamed "The Hammer," was
indicted recently on money-laundering charges and had to step down as the
House majority leader. 

"He's (been) responsible pretty much for the discipline, and he's not
there anymore," Murkowski noted. "So where these folks go ... we'll have
to see." 

Republican leaders acknowledged last week that they don't yet have the
votes in the House to pass their bill. 

When a reporter asked Rep. Roy Blunt, the acting majority leader, if the
leadership might have to remove ANWR to get the votes, Blunt said the
bill "will undoubtedly not be exactly the same when it gets to the
floor," according to the trade publication Environment and Energy Daily. 

Alaska Rep. Don Young ultimately expects the House to vote for ANWR
drilling, but it won't be easy, an aide said. 

"He accepts that it is going to be a challenge," said his spokeswoman,
Meredith Kenny. 



Daily News reporter Liz Ruskin can be reached at [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>  or 1-202-383-0007. 

 


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship
e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's
latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent
editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/