US opens way for oil drilling in Arctic refuge

The US House of Representatives today opened the way for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as one of its last acts of an all-night session bringing their legislative year to a close.

The House also narrowly passed a plan to cut deficits by almost $40bn (€33.3bn) over five years in legislation hailed by Republican conservatives as a sign their party was returning to fiscal discipline and assailed by Democrats as victimising medical and education programmes that help the poor.

The Arctic wildlife refuge provision was attached to a major defence bill, forcing many opponents of oil and gas exploration in the barren northern Alaska range to vote for it. The bill, passed 308-106, also included money for hurricane relief and bird flu preventive measures.

The deficit measure, passed 212-206, carried an extension of expiring welfare laws and repealed a programme that compensates companies hurt by trading partners who “dump” their exports in this country.

The votes came before sunrise as bleary-eyed legislators struggled to wrap up their work for the year.

While House lawmakers were heading for the exits, the end was not in sight for the Senate, which can’t leave for Christmas until it deals with spending bills and the deficit-cutting package and overcomes a filibuster on renewing the Patriot Act. A Senate vote on the deficit reduction bill could come later today.

A $453bn (€377bn) defence spending bill became the flypaper for issues that have eluded congressional compromise. Those included, along with the wildlife refuge provision, $29bn (€24bn) in federal aid for victims of Katrina and other storms; an additional $2bn (€1.6bn) to help low-income families with home heating costs; and $3.8bn (€3.16bn) to prepare for a possible bird flu pandemic. Of the defence money, $50bn (€41bn) is for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Also in the bill is the compromise language worked out between Senator John McCain, Arizona Republican, and the White House banning the cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners in US custody.

Democrats and moderate Republicans have for years blocked drilling in the Arctic refuge, and its inclusion in the defence bill exposed that bill to a possible filibuster in the Senate that can only be broken with a 60-vote majority.

Democrats complained that they were being forced to accept drilling in the wildlife refuge with their vote on military spending and hurricane relief.