ANWR's Safe for Now

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - After strenuous late-night wrangling, the US Senate approved a 453-billion-dollar military spending bill that contains an explicit ban of torture and new funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But its approval late Wednesday by a 93-0 vote became possible only after senators agreed to rid the measure of a provision that would have allowed oil companies to drill in a wildlife preserve in northeastern Alaska.

The measure endured tortuous negotiations during which Democrats managed to keep a united front in opposing the drilling provision championed by Republican Alaska Senator Ted Stevens and backed by top Republicans and the White House.

The drilling language was doomed earlier in the day when Republicans fell four votes short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster of the measure by Democratic senators, who threatened an extended debate to prevent a vote.

Two senators, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Mike DeWine of Ohio, defected from the Republican camp and sided with Democrats on that issue.

Thank goodness the Democrats have found their spine, and kudos to the defectors! It's high time the Congress of the United States starts working for the common good, instead of butting heads and pandering to the Seat Warmer in Chief.

Critics have charged that drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve would damage the pristine environment without significantly contributing to solving US energy woes.

"This was wrong," an irate Stevens shouted on the Senate floor, arguing the decision had robbed the government of an important source of revenue. "I am going to go to every one of your states, and I am going to tell them what you've done."


And there's Alaska's Ted Stevens shouting and making ridiculous statements, again. He's been trying to get permission from the american people for 40 years to tear up that preserve, and I'm sure he's not going to stop trying now.