Senate Votes For Drilling in ANWR
The Senate voted down an amendment to prevent drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge. The vote was 51 to permit drilling and 49 to prevent it.
There are two ways to see how each Senator voted. You could go here for an official vote list, or you could go to the Wampum archives for last November and read our prediction on the vote. Not only was the final margin predictable but there were no surprised among the individual votes of Senators. Each Senator voted as has long been expected.
Jim Jeffords and 41 of the 44 Democratic Senators voted against drilling. The three Democrats voting to permit drilling were Mary Landrieu of the oil producing state of Louisiana and the two Senators from Hawaii, Inouye and Akaka.
When I was writing the prediction, I wondered why the Hawaii Senators were pro-drilling. Eric quickly explained it to me.
The seven Republican Senators voting against drilling were, as predicted, were McCain, Coleman, Collins, Snowe, DeWine, and Smith.
This was a battle that Democrats have been destined to lose since last November’s elections. If Republicans in the House agree with their brethren in the Senate on the overall budget bill, it appears that there will be drilling in the refuge.
Comments
Note: I think you mean the seven Republicans voting *against* drilling.
(feel free to delete this comment if you update the post)
Posted by: Alan | March 17, 2005 01:59 PM
Quite right. I changed it. Thanks. It is hard to write Republicans against drilling in the same sentence.
Posted by: dwight Meredith | March 17, 2005 02:17 PM
Unfortunately, the Democrats got a drilling, too.
We need to gather ourselves together and vote as a block. Three Democrats strayed, by my count, and voted with the "majority".
Posted by: Steve Plonk | March 18, 2005 05:02 PM