08-04-2001
ENERGY: Bush Energy Plan Wins House Passage
House Republicans pushed President Bush's energy plan through their
chamber in the early hours of August 2 after mining enough votes to
approve drilling on a strip of the Alaskan coastline, and putting the
brakes on a plan to boost automobile fuel-efficiency standards. The final
240-189 vote-with 36 Democrats voting for the bill, and 16 Republicans
voting against it-gave momentum to Bush's energy policy, but the plan
faces opposition in the Democratic-controlled Senate. In one of a series
of key House votes, Republican leaders persuaded three dozen Democrats to
support Bush's proposal to open up a 1.5 million-acre strip of Alaska's
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. The ANWR issue
has become a symbolic fault line in the battle over energy policy, and the
223-206 House vote in favor of drilling guarantees that the matter will be
considered in conference committee with the Senate. In another important
vote, the House defeated, 269-160, a plan to require sport-utility
vehicles to meet the same 27.5 miles-per-gallon fuel-efficiency standards
as cars. In the Senate, where a committee markup of energy legislation
began this week, Democrats are expected to produce legislation that bars
drilling in ANWR and dramatically boosts mileage standards for
autos.
Brody Mullins/CongressDaily
National Journal
