Six Republican Senators Turn Against Bush on ANWR

Reuters ^ | 1/31/03

[areafiftyone]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration's plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling suffered a major blow on Friday, as six Republican senators said they opposed inserting language to give oil companies access to the refuge into a must-pass budget bill.

ANWR, which is home to polar bears, caribou and other wildlife, sprawls across 19 million acres of Alaska's northeast corner.

The Republican-led House of Representatives passed energy legislation last year that would have opened ANWR to drilling.

The White House contends that the refuge's potential 16 billion barrels of crude must be tapped to help reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports from unfriendly countries like Iraq.

Drilling is opposed by many Democrats and environmental groups, who say the administration should cut oil imports by boosting the mileage standards of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles.

Six of the Senate's 51 Republicans, including former presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona, on Friday announced they would not go along with a plan to tack ANWR drilling language onto a massive spending bill this spring that would enact the new 2004 budget for the federal government.

The senators said drilling in the Alaskan refuge is an important policy issue that should be openly debated, not slipped into an unrelated bill.

"Because the opening of the Arctic refuge to drilling raises a host of policy concerns, including serious environmental ramifications, we do not believe this issue should be injected in the budget process," the lawmakers said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickles.

The letter is the latest twist in a two-year legislative battle over drilling in the Alaskan refuge.

The Democratic-led Senate last year soundly defeated efforts to open the refuge, when drilling supporters fell short of the 60 votes needed to end debate on the controversial proposal and allow a final vote on the measure.

To get around a filibuster this time around, supporters of opening the refuge want to attach drilling language to must-pass legislation to fund the 2004 budget for the federal government. They argue that such language is appropriate for budget legislation because of the fees the government would collect from leasing tracts in the refuge to oil companies.

Under Senate rules, budget legislation cannot be filibustered and only 50 votes would be needed to approve the bill and an attached ANWR drilling provision.

In addition to McCain, the letter was signed by Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois and Mike DeWine of Ohio.

In his State of the Union speech to Congress earlier this week, President Bush urged lawmakers to pass legislation enacting his national energy plan, which includes drilling in the refuge.

Two Democratic presidential hopefuls, Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, oppose ANWR drilling and have promised to filibuster any energy bill that would open the refuge.

[hobbes1]

I understand you had an original thought once.

But it died of loneliness.

[Cincinatus]

Democrat (dim-o-krat) -- Lacking intelligence or logical abilities. Moron. Fool. Idiot. See also: Kathy Pearl

[dokmad]

"Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine"

Why am I not surprised..... I worked on their campaigns, only to beat the democrats, but they still Pi** me off!

[stalin]

There arn't enouph republican party lap dogs to have any of the branches. It takes independent Republicans too.

[RayBob]

Actually, I'm not that upset over this. Slipping it in the bill in question would be a back door way to get it thru, but the point that these 6 make is that it should be debated on the record. I would rather have a record that said Senators A, B and C voted against energy independence than some slick back door trick.

[Kip Lange]

Hey, once, twice, three times a ZOT... ;-)

---CWL

[Steven W.]

you are exactly right but appears the only one (other than myself) capable of actually reading what was said & written and understanding the implications of such, rather than just jumping off into hype & hyperbole.

[CPT Clay]

Miller, Breaux, Landreau what other Dems might come over?

[stalin]

Your post is logically contradictory. The reason there is a debate is because of disagreement. Without it there would be only party lap dogs and the Dems would be in control of all three branches.

[Russ]

The title is misleading. These six didn't "turn against Bush" they were against drilling all along. In addition, Sen. Specter is also on record as being opposed to drilling in ANWAR.

[kaktuskid]

Next year...with Jeff Flake!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Some think that is what IRAQ is all about :

IRAQ: OPEC in the crosshairs (...it's about oil....??)

[Kip Lange]

No, just take a look at the voting records of the people in question. I'm not being logically contradictory; I'm ridiculing your idiotic premise that the people signing these letter are somehow non-comformists when, in fact, they are the biggest conformists *out there*. I'm saying, this is not Powell vs. Rumsfeld, which is a debate I can respect. I *know* the reasons behind the motivations of the people signing this letter (and agree with the poster who said we might as well sit it out and wait until it comes back to bite them on the rump :p).

--CWL

[DaBroasta]

Darn, what happened to Kathy 'Rat Pellet' Pearl? I wanted to comment on her post and poof she disappeared faster than a Clinton co-conspirator indicted by a federal grand jury.

[blam]

"Our dependence on the Mideast continues ..."

I think we should drill there but we won't see any oil from there for ten years.

[Mo1]

not possible. They would just be replaced by democrates. It's better to have them on our side even if they vote against party politics half of the time.

Dang, I was hoping there was somebody ..

[Txslady]

LOL... I love your response

[DoughtyOne]

With my blessings!

[Kip Lange]

*this* letter. Correcting myself. Can't stand my own typos. Sorry. ;-)

[InspiredPath1]

"It's not smart to drill now"

I agree, but for different reasons. The media would KILL Bush for this. Bush has to do some MAJOR re-education on this issue and conservation in general before this ever passes.

Take a look at any media program on ANWR. They always show frolicking caribou walking through the beautiful meadow. They don't tell you that the footage they're showing you is NOT of ANWR. Viewers assume. For Bush to win this battle he has to first reframe the argument and prove that the media is lying.