House Adds Alaska Oil-Drilling to Defense Measure

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he House of Representatives opened the way for oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as one of their last acts of an all-night session ending Monday in bringing their legislative year to a close, the Associated Press reported.

The ANWR provision, passed 308-106, was attached to a defense-spending bill, in effect forcing opponents of oil and gas exploration in Alaska’s northeastern section to vote for it, AP said.

The House also narrowly passed, in a 212-206 vote, a plan to cut deficits by almost $40 billion over five years, AP reported.

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

American Trucking Associations has called for drilling in the ANWR region as a means to enhance U.S. energy independence. (Click here for previous coverage.)