Posted on 11/09/2005 5:27:22 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Short of votes and running out of time, House GOP leaders may drop a hotly contested plan to open an Alaskan wilderness area to oil drilling as they try to secure passage of a sweeping budget bill Thursday.
Such a move would be a big setback for President Bush and other advocates of permitting oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which has repeatedly passed the House with bipartisan support when considered as part of broader energy legislation. It's always been dropped in the face of promised filibusters by Senate Democrats.
Now that the ANWR drilling proposal is part of a budget bill immune to Senate filibusters, it is the House that's having difficulty advancing the drilling plan. That's because Democrats oppose the overall budget bill, giving House GOP opponents of drilling in the Arctic great leverage to try and force it out of the bill.
Twenty-five Republicans, led by Rep. Charles Bass (news, bio, voting record) of New Hampshire, have signed a letter asking GOP leaders to strike the Alaskan drilling provision from the broader $54 billion budget cut bill.
"Rather then reversing decades of protection for this publicly held land, focusing greater attention on renewable energy sources, alternate fuels, and more efficient systems and appliances would yield more net energy savings than could come from ANWR and would have a higher benefit on the nation's long-term economic leadership and security," said the letter.
Republican leaders have yet to announce any decisions about changes to the $54 billion budget bill, but it's commonly assumed that the ANWR drilling provision will have to be dropped for GOP leaders to have any chance of passing the bill.
"(GOP leaders) understand that this isn't going anywhere with ANWR in it," Bass said.
"They're going to take ANWR out," added Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Ill.
Given the narrow margin of GOP control of the House, it only takes 14 Republican defections to scuttle a bill, assuming every Democrat opposes it.
Still, removing the Arctic oil drilling provision would incite a backlash from lawmakers who strongly favor it, which is a big majority of Republicans. House and Senate GOP leaders are likely to push hard for the final House-Senate version of the bill to include it.
Marnie Funk, a spokeswoman for Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., said that Domenici considers the ANWR provision, which the Senate approved, "one of the most critical components" in the budget package. "He is committed to coming back to the Senate from the conference with ANWR intact," she said.
The oil drilling provision is but one of several parts of the $54 billion budget cut bill under review as House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., negotiates with various Republican factions in an effort to pass the bill Thursday.
• A plan to allow states to waive a 24-year ban on drilling along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and open a contested tract off the Florida Gulf coast to oil drilling. Several Florida Republicans strongly oppose the plan.
• Provisions tightening eligibility for food stamps, especially for legal immigrants. Cuban-American lawmakers from the Miami area are optimistic they will win concessions.
Rep. Don Young (news, bio, voting record), an Alaska Republican strongly supporting opening the refuge to drilling, said he is not optimistic that the ANWR drilling plan approved by the Resources Committee will be kept in the final bill. He said he was "hoping for a cold, cold winter."
The overall bill is a top Republican priority. The Senate passed a milder version of the bill last week that would curb the automatic growth of federal spending by $35 billion through the end of the decade. The House plan cuts more deeply across a broader range of social programs.
Republicans say the debate is an important moment for their party as it tries to burnish its record on the budget deficit and federal spending.
At a closed-door GOP meeting Wednesday, Republican leaders made a plea to lawmakers' sense of party loyalty.
Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., summarized the pitch made by Republican leaders: "It's critical. It's a defining vote. And it'll keep us in the majority."
That is making a flawed assumption, I believe. There is a very high supply of crude right now. There is moderate demand. If oil is $60 in this market, then I would venture to say that in 10 years with higher demand and less supply that it would be worth more than $60 in inflation adjusted dollars.
I've got news for you: Kaine won because if you stick with the same lie long enough people will begin to believe you. He also ran a much better campaign.
Kaine took Henrico County on name recognition and turnout. Areas east of Richmond out to I-295 like Chamberlayne, Laurel, Glen Lea and Highland Springs heavily Democrat anyway. The strongly Republican West End is a different story: Capital One has fired the majority of their West End IT workforce. Many others are leaving Henrico for Goochland, Louisa and to a lesser extent, Hanover and Powhatan.
It may interest you to know that Kilgore took Chesterfield, Hanover, Powhatan, Goochland and New Kent Counties. That is all the counties around Richmond except Henrico and Charles City.
If this happens I may consider joining those who will no longer support the republicans. This is outrageous to the extreme.
It is my understanding that ANWR is just a small drop in the bucket... what are they afraid of? Are you afraid of Big sugar, Big wheat, Big cola, Big cars? It's known as economies of scale in the Capitalist system.
We are at war...we need fuel....
Executive order the drilling to commence STAT
No, I cannot vote for either Coburn or Shays. I live in PA. IF a conservative - one who VOTES as one as well as talks like one prior to an election - is running and I can vote for him/her, I will. Otherwise, I will not bother to go to the polls. I am fed up and it did not happen overnight. It took 10 years. I don't put all the blame on RINO's for the governing disaster that the Republicans are. There is no party discipline. There are no votes where Republicans will vote to support the party or find a new one. The Republican party is devoted to one thing (with less than a handful of exceptions in the senate and maybe 20-25 in the house) --- get re-elected and maintain the perks and chairmanships. That's it. Why should I care what happens to them? They neither "mean well" not do they place the interest of the country before their own interests.
It'd certainly help to do so. Without, the GOP is coming up incrasingly short.
Since the RINO's are dragging the voter turnout for the Party down, I suggest the Party finally start kicking our RINO butt. Why they would protect those that threaten their own futures...
This is what I'm saying: campaigning as a Republican is completely useless to voters and wholly fraudulent because the Republican Party stands for nothing but reelection.
How come the troublemakers in the republican party always seem to come from the East Coast (with the possible exception of John McCain)?
yeah, we can "exhaust" arab oil at $60 a bbl now (higher years from now), while our economy goes into the tank and americans run up more credit card charges to pay for gasoline.
No it isn't. The correct terminology is "oligopoly".
Isn't the most generous estimate that it would take 8-10 years to see the first drop of ANWR oil to reach the marketplace?
From a purely economic standpoint, I do understand your point. My comment was based on a more "national security" and "in 2050 only the US has oil because they didn't drill until they had to" standpoint. At which time the true value of ANWR oil would be measureless.
http://www.republicanmainstreet.org/News/180.htm
Bass has made ANWR an issue at least since April of this year - lots of press releases out there featring the NH and Maine delegations, both House and Senate, as bordering on "Green" party when it comes to environmental issues.
The RNC actively supports the RINOs. The party likes RINO's. It probably wishes there more of them, and fewer conservatives.
Then Bass and his comrades won't mind losing the majority in both Houses next year, will they?
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