House Drops Artic Drilling From Bill

A nearly two-decade effort to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling suffered a severe setback at the hands of moderate House Republicans just as Congress was about to deliver it to President Bush as his top energy priority.

GOP leaders scrapped the drilling plan in a search for just enough votes to pass another of Bush's priorities, a $51 billion deficit-reduction program cutting spending on food stamps, Medicaid, child support enforcement and other domestic programs through the rest of the decade. Also axed was another conservative priority, a plan allowing states to lift a moratorium on oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts.

Despite those two actions late Wednesday night, Republican leaders still appeared to lack the votes they needed for the budget measure, postponing the opening of debate Thursday as they leaned on more wavering GOP lawmakers.

As the chamber went into a lengthy recess and Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., worked to assemble support for the bill, the Capitol was abuzz with rumors that further changes were being considered, such as easing cuts to the Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled.

FULL STORY