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.