Senate Republicans Need Unity on Alaska Oil to Win Budget Plan

[Judi Lynn]

Senate Republicans Need Unity on Alaska Oil to Win Budget Plan
Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senate Republicans' divisions over a proposal to allow oil drilling in Alaska may derail their plan to cut federal spending by at least $39 billion.

The Senate this week may vote on a package of spending cuts over five years that includes raising $2.4 billion through lease sales to oil companies in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, known as ANWR. The House Budget Committee may vote Nov. 3 on a $50 billion plan that includes a similar provision.

Three Senate Democrats -- Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka of Hawaii, and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana -- joined Republicans in March in voting to keep ANWR in a budget measure that passed 51- 49. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said his party's lawmakers now unanimously oppose the budget cuts. To pass the measure, the Republican Senate leadership will have to persuade at least two of the seven Republicans who opposed ANWR in March to vote for the lease sales this time.

``There's no margin for error'' for the Republicans, said James Lucier, a political analyst at Prudential Equity Group LLC in Washington. ``There may be a point at which ANWR is the issue that brings down the entire'' budget, he said. ``It's the kicker.''
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aBAkfLW13GjY&refer=top_world_news

[Kolesar]

1. This is gonna make Dewine from Ohio's head spin

I called him with my opposition yesterday. Them coupling it to the budget was a dicey move. If the budget fails, the pukes look like morons.