ANWR gets another break

I still am not in full belief about this. According to the AP, the House has backed off ANWR drilling! If anything is a sign of a weaking GOP political grip, this would have to be it. Well, the GOP’s hardest-core, at least, is weakening.

The House Rules Committee formalized the change late Wednesday by issuing the terms of the debate when the House takes up the budget package on Thursday.

The decision to drop the ANWR drilling language came after GOP moderates said they would oppose the budget if it was kept in the bill. The offshore drilling provision was also viewed as too contentious and a threat to the bill, especially in the Senate. …

Twenty-five Republicans, led by Rep. Charles Bass (news, bio, voting record) of New Hampshire, signed a letter asking GOP leaders to strike the Alaskan drilling provision from the broader $54 billion budget cut bill.

"Rather then reversing decades of protection for this publicly held land, focusing greater attention on renewable energy sources, alternate fuels, and more efficient systems and appliances would yield more net energy savings than could come from ANWR and would have a higher benefit on the nation's long-term economic leadership and security," they said.

Well, the budget bill will go to the Senate for reconciliation. However, it will just take a couple of moderate GOP Senators who voted for ANWR drilling in the original Senate bill … or a couple of Democrats who had no backbone the first time around (Akaka, Inouye) to change their minds to overturn that 51-48 vote of last month. (Corzine did not vote.)