BREAKING: Senate Blocks Alaska Refuge Drilling

[TeddyKGB]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051221/ap_on_go_co/arctic_drilling;_ylt=AvlnI1_oaJ2oGEvH9bJC7Hes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

WASHINGTON - The Senate blocked oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge Wednesday, rejecting a must-pass defense spending bill where supporters positioned the quarter-century-old environmental issue to garner broader support.

Drilling backers fell four votes short of getting the required 60 votes to avoid a threatened filibuster of the defense measure over the oil drilling issue. Senate leaders were expected to withdraw the legislation so it could be reworked without the refuge language. The vote was 56-44...

[texpatriot2004]

1. Woo Hoo Thank you God.

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[YDogg]

3. Good thing cheney returned to break the tie, eh?

:toast: :toast: :toast: :toast:

[IndyOp]

36. Cheney did break the tie - GOP won on the "Scrooge Bill"

The "Deficit Reduction Bill" that cut healthcare, food subsidies, school loans in order to 'reduce the deficit' did pass thanks to Darth Vaders tie-breaking vote.

The Defense Appropriations bill (with ANWR, Katrina relief, low-income heating assistance, and protection for drug companies that are negligent) was blocked...

[YDogg]

49. Oops. My bad. I was behind in reading that lovely bit of news.

Happy Holidays, indeed.

[second edition]

34. My feelings exactly, thank you, God. n/t

[Mad_Dem_X]

2. Good news! nt

[Shakespeare]

4. Take that, Stevens.

Now go take a flying leap off an oil rig and get bent.

[DesertRat]

52. Stevens even wore his "Incredible Hulk" tie today

to bring him luck. :rofl:

"When I see the Hulk tie on Ted Stevens, I know he's pumped up," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who described the Alaska Republican as "tenacious, pugnacious and ferocious."

[schmuls]

5. Yes!!!!! Thanks to everyone there who had balls!

[blm]

6. Grazie to all the Dems who spearheaded the charge against drilling.

.

[butterfly77]

7. That damn Stevens ..

acts like a spoil little kid. From news reports we already see deers and bears coming into homes, if you keep building on their land, they will come and attack.

[stubtoe]

8. Wow! YAYYY

I had just about given up!

[deminks]

9. A great big thank you to all the dems.

and a great big Kiss My Hiney to all the big oil minions. :evilgrin:

[onenote]

10. CNN: Cloture fails on DOD Spending Bill (W/ANWR)

Senate fails to overcome Democrats' objections to Arctic oil drilling, delaying passage of defense spending bill, hurricane aid.

[JudyM]

11. Yee hah! 4 votes short! n/t

[Bumblebee]

14. Actually three because Frist had to change his to bring it up again

[maseman]

12. Good news

BREAKING NEWS Senate fails to overcome Democrats' objections to Arctic oil drilling, delaying passage of defense spending bill, hurricane aid.

[stop the bleeding]

13. Senate blocks oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge Wednesday!!

WASHINGTON - The Senate blocked oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge Wednesday, rejecting a measure that had been put into a must-pass defense spending bill in an attempt to garner wider support.
Read more here….

12/21/2005 Senate Blocks Alaska Refuge Drilling -- AP- yahoo.com

[texpatriot2004]

15. Woo Hoo Thank you God.

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[tabasco]

16. Please let this be true.

The robber barons have been so insistent on this destructive project that I had almost given up.

Can we save anything for future generations from the robber barons??

[IndyOp]

37. They are already talking about how they can introduce ANWR

against in the next session. D'Amato (I think?) commented that they need to put ANWR in a bill that can't be blocked by filibuster - a certain kind of budget bill, the parts of which cannot be considered separately --

:(

[mike_c]

17. god is calling you home, Ted Stevens....

:evilgrin:

[Dinger]

63. Yeah, Go To The Dark

Cuz it sure ain't the light he'll follow. Unless sulfur pits glow that is.

[Critters2]

18. Has Stevens quit yet?

:kick:

[0007]

20. I bet Teddy is stuttering so bad Petunia Pig (Mrs Porky Pig)

would have a hard time understanding him.

[dweller]

19. just heard on the radio

it's still under debate ...

will they vote again?

dp

[Zynx]

21. Good. Tacking full bills onto other bills is disgusting.

[Up2Late]

22. Republicans fail to end Alaska drilling debate (Reuters)

<http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=fundLaunches&storyID=2005-12-21T175301Z_01_EIC066771_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENERGY-CONGRESS.xml>

Republicans fail to end Alaska drilling debate

Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:53 PM ET14

By Tom Doggett and Julie Vorman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday failed to muster enough votes to keep a measure to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in a $453 billion defense spending bill.

The ANWR refuge, which sprawls along Alaska's northern coast and may hold 10 billion barrels of oil, has been the focus of bitter wrangling in the U.S. Congress for more than two decades.

Most Senate Democrats and some moderate Republicans said the frigid wilderness and its assortment of wildlife, ranging from polar bears to peregrine falcons, should be protected. Republicans contend ANWR must be opened to drilling to stop a steady slide in U.S. crude oil production.

Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska attached the measure to a $453 billion defense spending bill that pays for U.S. troops and Pentagon weapons programs in the coming year. Furious Democrats conducted the filibuster, saying the ANWR measure had no connection to military spending and violated Senate rules.

<http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=fundLaunches&storyID=2005-12-21T175301Z_01_EIC066771_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENERGY-CONGRESS.xml>
(more at link above)

[Rainscents]

23. Is this cloture vote?

Is there going to be another vote this week? Or after the Holiday break?

[primavera]

26. No, cloture

Cloture refers to a motion to end floor debate on a measure and move on to a straight up or down vote.

[Rainscents]

28. Thanks, Kevin!

[napi21]

24. YEAH!!!!! I LOVE IT!

It's about time this admin gets the message that they CAN'T get everything they want!

It's also a nice xmas gift for Frist! He has to go home and say "I FAILED!"

[Eugene]

25. The Refuge wins another round.

Senate leaders were expected to withdraw the legislation so it could be reworked
without the refuge language. The vote was 56-44.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051221/ap_on_go_co/arctic_drilling


So ANWR avoids drilling again. So what will the Repugs try next?

In the meantime, :applause: :bounce: :toast: :party:

:kick: and recommend

[imported_dem]

27. Doesn't this also prevent the ban on torture from proceeding

since it is also part of the DOD spending bill.

[hatrack]

29. I thought that meant Ted Stevens had to fall over dead

Didn't it?

:evilgrin:

[MiniMe]

30. I listened to Ted Stephens speak. He was just outraged......

after all, 2 democratic Senators that have now passed on promised this to him 25 years ago.

:nopity:

[karynnj]

47. But because they were from MA and WA,

he somehow thinks Kerry (who did replace Tsongas) and Cantwell should somehow feel bound by it. Kerry's fought him for 21 years.

[JohnnyRingo]

31. I bet Bush is tearing the Oval Office carpet up with his teeth

Cheney's probably gotta mouthful of' nitro pills.

They don't handle opposition well.

[fooj]

32. OMG!!! That's wonderful news!

Peace.

[Jim__]

33. This is great!

On top of the good news about ANWR, it makes Frist look like the shit bag that he is.

[rodeodance]

35. yappa dappa dooooooo.

[BiggJawn]

38. WHO were the 4 Dems who voted FOR drilling?

Better not be Eyeben Baught....

[cyberpj]

39. right here:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/109/senate/1/votes/364/

[BiggJawn]

42. Thanks, cyberpj, too. n/t

[lostnfound]

40. Daniel Akaka, Ben Nelson, Daniel Inouye, Mary Landrieu nt

[PassingFair]

57. WTF? Frist voted NO?

What's up with that.
Didn't want DeWine to look like the only hold-over?
Sounds like DeWine NEEDED to vote no.....just sayin...

[Delphinus]

41. This is turning out to be a good week!

Great news for this today and yesterday we had the ruling against Intelligent Design. Now I've got reason to celebrate!! :party:

[The Stranger]

43. Is it over, or are they going to try some other fraud to get it through?

[ismnotwasm]

44. Worth a party!

I signed petitions, wrote LTTE's. To try to add that to a military defense spending bill was politics at it's slimy lowest. "Political blackmail" Senator Cantwell called it. Steven's is a disgusting excuse for a human being. No matter what side of the drilling issue someone is on (to me NOT drilling is the ONLY answer to anyone who has actually done any research)

God, this is good.

[Judi Lynn]

45. Love the Yahoo photo accompanying original article!

~~ click ~~

AP - Wed Dec 21, 1:07 PM ET Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tenn. walks on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005, after the Senate passed the Deficit Reduction Act. The Republican-controlled Senate passed legislation to cut federal deficits by $39.7 billion on Wednesday by the narrowest of margins, 51-50, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)

Poor Frist can barely navigate through his tear-blind eyes.

May the friends of the planet prevail the next time the evil idiots try this Death to ANWR again.

[newscott]

46. Somebody mail Stevens some balsa wood

So he can build a bridge to nowhere his own damn self!

[ellie]

48. Yes, thank you!

Good Lord! These mofo's are going to keep trying and trying until they get it.

[ailsagirl]

50. kick

[twaddler01]

51. CHEERS!

:toast:

[funkybutt]

53. Our Hurricaine Relief Package Died as a Result

I don't support drilling in ANWR, so it really upsets me that they'd attach that controversial issue onto our 29 billion in relief!

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2005_12_21.html#101082

Hurricane relief money earmarked for bolstering the New Orleans levee system fell victim to U.S. Senate politics this morning as the senators could not muster enough votes to break a filibuster of the bill to which the $29 billion package was attached.

The Katrina hurricane relief package includes $2 billion in emergency funding for low-income families pay high heating bills this winter as well as money for troops in Iraq. It also included a provision to help fund hospital care for the poor.

[OKthatsIT]

58. I know but this 'refuge' would be destroyed forever

We will find a way to save New Orleans...but it wont be with Haliburton, etc..

The Bush Admin has ceased helping Katrina victims...what needs to be done should be 'overseen' by several bipartisan committees. The MONEY should go towards THE PEOPLE and COMMUNITY.

[KansDem]

54. Wow! I did call my senators this morning...

Sens. Roberts and Brownback...

Told them (or rather their staff) that this stunt was "cowardly." Got a little flack from Brownback's staffer ("There already is oil drilling going on up there." "Well, not in ANWR!" "The provision was passed in the House." "Not the Senate!"). Robert's staffer listened and seemed a little bit taken aback when I told her the GOP was comprised of "cowards." But she listened.

Anyway, I doubt very much if my call made a difference--both Kansas senators are neo-Con fascists. But it felt sooooooooo good! :D

[GoddessOfGuinness]

55. Be happy, but watch out...

I couldn't be more thrilled! :bounce:

But we have to keep our guard up; because you can be certain that the ecothugs will go after ANWR next year and the year after that...

[HockeyMom]

56. Both Kerry and Kennedy sent me emails today

informing me of that fact. I just LOVE the great Senators from Massachusetts.

I am JEALOUS of you people who live there. :)

[hollowdweller]

59. I was impressed that even Republicans like Leiberman joined the Dems

[ozone_man]

60. ANWR must have nine lives.

I wonder how many we've used up? :think: Anyway, it's something to be cheery about for the holidays. :party:

Some (hopefully many) wilderness ecosystems on Earth must be left untouched by man, this is one of them.

[siddcnc]

61. Re:

I hope that this brings his 20+ years of pursuit to exploit Alaska to a halt. Or If he is far from that decision, may be we should help him build a bridge....

[symbolman]

62. I spent TWO summer surveying ALL of ANWR

by helicopter, every damn square mile of it, 18 hours a day, living in tents, flying over the tundra at 200 mph in Hughes 500Ds - I LIVED there for those two summers among the beasts (yeah I got a few stories, gonna write a book about it..even crashed there in a chopper and was lost for 3 days when they KNEW where we were) bears, foxes, ptarmigin, moose,caribou, etc..

I can tell you how INCREDIBLY ALIVE that place is, despite it looking like a Pool Table, flat as a pancake.. like living on a sundial where the sun moves around the horizon ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT..

Once near the end of this amazing job, we were cruising along at a high rate of speed in the chopper, maybe 2 thousand feet up when we noticed a trickle of caribou moving under us.. soon it was joined by another, and another, until in a short amout of time the ENTIRE EARTH WAS COVERED in Caribou.. from horizon to horizon in ALL directions, nothing but hairy, antlered, beautiful beasts all jumping over each other, migrating - not an INCH of ground to be seen..

We watched this in awe from the chopper, and remember it was moving along at over 130 mph for nearly 20 minutes.

It was a completely SPIRITUAL experience and we were all changed by it forever.

I will fight to my dying breath for that piece of "useless" real estate.. I watched the oil rigs kill these animals, pollute them, laugh about it, cut a two foot gap in the tundra and the permafrost melts, within 5 year there is a GAPING HOLE the size of a lake.. no one realizes how delicate the wilderness is..

I've decided to write a book about my experiences and when I do I will let everyone know, and will certainly donate a portion to the protection of that area.. if someone was to make a movie of it all the better, so people can SEE what I saw and SEE for the first time in their lives the ENTIRE EARTH ALIVE all at once..

Fuck you Cheney and your executioners, may you all rot in hell for the beings you've killed besides Innocent Humans.

[dsharp88]

64. Before you get upset at Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La)...

...realize that she was held hostage by $6 billion of aid for Katrina devastated areas of her state (Louisiana) if ANWR drilling passed. It wasn't her fault. She had to do it for the aid of her state citizens who the republicans have now been stripped of this $6 billion of rebuilding effort.

You'll notice she was the lone democrat to vote with the republicans to not strip ANWR drilling from the final defense spending bill.

A yea vote was a vote to strip ANWR drilling from the final defense spending bill.

• YEA (48): Akaka, D-Hawaii; Baucus, D-Mont.; Bayh, D-Ind.; Biden, D-Del.; Bingaman, D-N.M.; Boxer, D-Calif.; Byrd, D-W.V.; Cantwell, D-Wash.; Carper, D-Del.; Clinton, D-N.Y.; Coleman, R-Minn.; Collins, R-Maine; Conrad, D-N.D.; Dayton, D-Minn.; DeWine, R-Ohio.; Dorgan, D-N.D.; Durbin, D-Ill.; Feingold, D-Wis.; Feinstein, D-Calif.; Inouye, D-Hawaii.; Jeffords, I-Vt.; Johnson, D-S.D.; Kennedy, D-Mass.; Kerry, D-Mass.; Kohl, D-Wis.; Lautenberg, D-N.J.; Leahy, D-Vt.; Levin, D-MI.; Lieberman, D-Conn.; Lincoln, D-Ariz.; Lugar, R-Ind.; Mikulski, D-Md.; Murray, D-Wash.; Nelson, D-Fla.; Nelson, D-N.E.; Obama, D-Ill.; Pryor, D-Ariz.; Reed, D-R.I.; Reid, D-Nev.; Rockefeller, D-W.V.; Salazar, D-Colo.; Sarbanes, D-Md.; Schumer, D-N.Y.; Smith, R-Ore.; Snowe, R-Maine; Specter, R-Pa.; Stabenow, D-Mich.; Wyden, D-Ore.

• Nay (45): Alexander, R-Tenn.; Allard, R-Colo.; Allen, R-Va.; Bennett, R-Utah; Bond, R-Mo.; Brownback, R-Kan.; Bunning, R-Ky.; Burns, R-Mont.; Burr, R-N.C.; Chambliss, R-Ga.; Coburn, R-Okla.; Cochran, R-Miss.; Cornyn, R-Texas; Craig, R-Idaho.; Crapo, R-Idaho; Dole, R-N.C.; Domenici, R-N.M.; Ensign, R-Nev.; Enzi, R-Wyo.; Frist, R-Tenn.; Graham, R-S.C.; Grassley, R-Iowa.; Hagel, R-Neb.; Hatch, R-Utah.; Hutchison, R-Texas.; Inhofe, R-Okla.; Isakson, R-Ga.; Kyl, R-Ariz.; Landrieu, D-La.; Lott, R-MS.; Martinez, R-Fla.; McConnell, R-Ky.; Murkowski, R-Alaska.; Roberts, R-Kan.; Santorum, R-Pa.; Sessions, R-Ala.; Shelby, R-Ala.; Stevens, R-Alaska.; Sununu, R-N.H.; Talent, R-Mo.; Thomas, R-Wyo.; Thune, R-S.D.; Vitter, R-La.; Voinovich, R-Ohio.; Warner, R-Va.

• Not voting (7): Chafee, R-R.I.; Corzine, D-N.J.; DeMint, R-S.C.; Dodd, D-Conn.; Gregg, R-N.H.; Harkin, D-Iowa.; McCain, R-Ariz.

[depakid]

65. Whatever- she has no integrity

And I'm not buying excuses.

[opihimoimoi]

66. WELL DONE by everyone. Nature wins a small round