Stevens And ANWR Drilling Defeated By Cantwell

David Horsey / Seattle PI

Senator Cantwell successfully defeated Senator Stevens' backdoor attempt to get ANWR drilling approved by including it in the defense appropriations bill. A vote to end debate on the issue failed to garner the necessary 60 votes. Stevens vowed to keep fighting for as long as it took:

(Washington Post) Stevens said on the Senate floor yesterday that he will not relent. "We're going to face up to ANWR either now or Christmas Day or New Year's Eve or sometime, however long we stay in."

The veteran senator said that if the drilling provision is blocked, it would delay final passage of the defense bill until next year -- forcing the Pentagon to operate on an extension of 2005 funding levels.

Well, that wasn't quite how things played out:

(Washington Post) Hours later, however, the Senate stripped the Alaska drilling language from the defense legislation, then passed the bill and sent it to the House, which was scheduled to reconvene Thursday afternoon.

So Stevens can go home after all for Christmas, but with his tail between his legs, after having been bested by his nemesis, Senator Cantwell - yet again.

Congratulations to Senator Cantwell for standing firm, unlike Dave Reichert, for example, who claimed that he had no choice but to vote on the bill with ANWR drilling included.