Reply #17: ANWR maneuver infuriates senators [View All]

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ANWR maneuver infuriates senators

By LIZ RUSKIN
Anchorage Daily News

Published: December 15, 2005
Last Modified: December 15, 2005 at 03:25 PM

WASHINGTON -- Democratic leaders are furious that Sen. Ted Stevens wants to use the Defense Department spending bill to push a measure to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said it's an insult for Republican leaders to exploit the Pentagon bill that way.

"Just when you think you have seen it all, they've taken drilling in the ANWR off the budget bill and now they want to put it on the Department of Defense bill," she said. "Nothing is sacred to them."

Her Senate counterpart, Harry Reid, called it "outrageous" that Republican leaders "would abuse their power by holding our troops hostage at a time of war."

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., called it a "desperate scheme" and said it is "not right by our fighting men and women."

Stevens, R-Alaska, said he is just doing his job. Complaints that ANWR doesn't belong on the annual defense appropriations bill are valid, he admitted.

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