WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- The House and Senate defense committees completed work on their conference report for defense spending in 2006, with the appropriators tacking on a controversial rider to allow oil drilling in the Arctic.
The House of Representatives approved the drilling when it accepted the conference appropriations bill and report in a 308-106 vote early Monday. The Senate is expected to take up the $453.5 billion Pentagon spending bill Monday as well.
The Bush administration has asked for authority to open part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- referred to by the committees as the Artic Coastal Plain -- for oil exploration, a centerpiece of its national energy plan. It would not yield oil for a decade, and would reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil by about 2 percent a year.
A number of senators have promised 'to do whatever it takes' to defeat passage of the arctic drilling measure, according to Cindy Shogun, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League. That could include a filibuster of the defense spending bill, she said.
This is at least the third attempt made this year by Republican leaders to attach drilling to an unrelated bill. Republican leaders attempted to ride it on the back of both the budget resolution and the budget reconciliation bills.
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