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Bush one vote away from Arctic drilling OK
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republicans say they have moved to within a single vote of guaranteeing President Bush one of his top domestic priorities -- opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The issue could be decided as early as next week. An internal GOP memo that circulated Tuesday in the Senate expressed confidence that 49 senators now plan to vote for drilling in the refuge, starting a scramble in search of the remaining lawmaker who would be needed to get the provision through as part of a budget measure. "Dick Cheney has been working madly to secure the 50th (vote)," said the staff memo developed in the offices of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. The House is expected to have enough votes to pass the drilling provision, but House leaders are reluctant to take up the issue -- and expose some lawmakers to the politically sensitive vote -- unless the Senate takes the lead, congressional sources said. The matter could be decided by one of four senators -- two Republicans and two Democrats -- who have been leaning toward the anti-drilling camp, but who GOP leaders believe might be persuaded to shift sides, said sources from both parties speaking on condition of anonymity. The sources said Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both of Arkansas, Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Oregon, and freshman Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minnesota, have been subjected to intense behind-the-scenes lobbying to join the pro-drilling side. A spokeswoman for Coleman -- who succeeded the late Paul Wellstone, a strong critic of drilling in the refuge -- said she could not comment on the memo or Coleman's views on the refuge. Spokesmen for the other three could not be reached Tuesday evening. Singling out Coleman, Lincoln and Pryor by name, the GOP memo said, "We need to get calls in to those offices from constituents, and fast." Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Gale Norton called a half dozen interest groups -- including farming and union interests -- to her office and urged them to go to Capitol Hill and "knock on doors and help sell the message" on Arctic drilling to fence-sitting senators. Development of the millions of barrels of oil believed to be under the coastal plain of the refuge in the far northeastern corner of Alaska has been at the core of Bush's energy agenda. On the other hand, protecting the 100-mile-long sliver of tundra has been an obsession for environmentalists who insist that drilling will destroy its value as a sanctuary for polar bears, musk oxen, caribou and migratory birds. Norton, in testimony before a House committee Wednesday, will reiterate that the refuge's oil can be developed "while protecting the environmental values we all hold dear." In her prepared testimony, she calls the refuge's coastal plain "the single greatest prospect for onshore oil and gas development anyplace in the United States" and says its development is essential for national security. In the last Congress, the House approved drilling in the refuge, but the issue died in the Senate. Democrats, led by presidential aspirants Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and John Kerry of Massachusetts, vowed to filibuster any drilling proposal, meaning supporters would need 60 votes to get the measure passed. Now that Republicans control the Senate, drilling advocates are maneuvering to include the provision in a budget resolution that is not subject to filibuster. Once in the resolution, it will take drilling opponents 51 votes to get it out. Such a maneuver succeeded in getting the drilling approved by Congress in 1995, but President Clinton vetoed it. The Senate Budget Committee was expected to approve a resolution, including a drilling provision, this week. Senate floor debate is expected to begin next week and wrap up in April. Frist "has called for accounting of 50 votes by Wednesday," said the GOP staff memo. "Today we have 49." Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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