Senate passes Budget Bill with Arctic Refuge

[troutfarm]

Senate passes Budget Bill with Arctic Refuge

I received the following email from a friend:

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I am so very saddened by this.

Statement on Passage of Senate Reconciliation Bill with Provision to
Drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

William H. Meadows, President of The Wilderness Society

Contact:
Pete Rafle, [phone]
Drew McConville [phone]

Today the Senate narrowly passed its version of a budget
reconciliation bill that would turn America's Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge into an industrial oil field.

We are disappointed that the Senate missed the opportunity to stop
this backdoor attempt to drill the Arctic Refuge, but the fight for the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is not over.  The farther along the
reconciliation bill moves in this legislative process, the more baggage
it picks up and the uglier it looks to the public.  This beast has
already been delayed more than once since its original September
deadline, and it still has a long way to go.

The courageous Senators who voted against this reconciliation bill
today listened to Americans from all walks of life who are increasingly
concerned about its controversial policy provisions.  Those who voted
for this bill, especially those who have pledged in the past to protect
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, will certainly be hearing from
their constituents who know that a vote for the reconciliation bill was
a vote to drill.  We are hopeful that they will choose to protect the
Arctic Refuge if the bill makes it back to the Senate.

Attention now turns to the House, where a significant number of
Representatives from both parties have been outspoken in their
opposition to Arctic Refuge drilling in the budget bill, casting
serious doubt on whether a bill with Arctic drilling in it can pass the
House at all.

Drilling proponents have admitted from the beginning that, although
Arctic Refuge drilling does not belong in a budget bill, they needed to
tack it onto the budget bill in order to get it past Congress.
 Representatives and Senators on both sides of the aisle must stop this
attempt to hijack the federal budget bill.  Sacrificing a national
treasure to save just a penny on a gallon of gas in twenty years
remains a bad deal for America.