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Friday October 12 2:35 PM ET
Senate's Daschle Says Wants Vote on Energy Bill
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By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said on Friday he wants to bring up a comprehensive energy bill before Congress adjourns and will also permit a vote on a Republican plan to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
``I have no reservations about coming to the (Senate) floor with it,'' Daschle told reporters at a Capitol Hill briefing.
Daschle's comments come one day after President Bush (news - web sites) urged the Senate to pass a broad energy bill that would open the Arctic refuge to oil firms.
``I urge the Senate to listen to the will of the senators and move a bill,'' Bush said on Thursday. ``The less dependent we are on foreign sources of crude oil, the more secure we are at home.''
Drilling supporters contend that only 1.5 million acres of the Arctic refuge's 19 million acres needs to be opened to exploration to reduce U.S. reliance on oil imports.
Government studies estimate the refuge could hold up to 16 billion barrels of crude, enough to replace the amount of oil the United States imports from Iraq for the next 70 years.
Daschle, who controls the Senate's legislative calendar, said he was willing to tackle energy issues once the chamber finishes a series of spending bills that must be passed to fund the federal government.
Daschle said he supports building a pipeline to bring Alaskan natural gas to the lower 48 states, but he is personally against drilling in the Arctic refuge.
Nonetheless, the majority leader said he was ``willing to give them (Republicans) a vote on ... the whole question of drilling in this most sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.''
At the White House, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (news - web sites) and Interior Secretary Gale Norton urged the Senate to move the energy bill, saying that last month's hijack attacks bolstered the case for fast action on legislation to boost domestic energy supplies.
``It's important for our national energy security,'' Norton told reporters.
``We need action,'' Abraham added. ``We can't put that off.''
They stressed the need for a bipartisan energy package, but said it was critical the legislation include provisions that would allowing drilling in the refuge.
``That is something we need to have as part of our package,'' Norton said.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives in August passed an energy bill that would open the Alaskan refuge to oil drilling, as well as other measures to boost domestic supplies of natural gas, coal and electricity.
The head of the Senate Energy Committee earlier this week suddenly ended the panel's work on the broad energy bill at the request of Daschle.
Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, said leaders felt the bill was infringing on the jurisdiction of other committees and time was running out to complete work on it.
Instead, Senate Democrats will bypass the committees and hope to take a comprehensive energy bill directly to the floor before Congress adjourns. Lawmakers are expected to recess next month.
Republicans criticized the move, saying Democrats were simply trying to prevent legislation from opening the Arctic refuge.
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Murkowski: Alaska Drilling Would Win in Senate Vote (October 10)
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