The GOP doesn’t love “up or down” votes that much. If they did, perhaps they would let the Senate vote on ANWR by itself, rather than forcing it into the must-pass Defense Bill. In my ebox this morning:

It’s all come down to this: the U.S. Senate will vote in the next two days on a defense spending bill that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

Please drop whatever you’re doing and call your Senators right now. Tell them to get Arctic drilling out of the defense bill (H.R. 2863), where it does not belong. Tell them to use a filibuster if necessary.

Senator Ron Wyden: (202) 224-5244
Senator Gordon Smith: (202) 224-3753

Even if you called your Senators on Friday, call them again today! The situation has grown much more dire over the past 48 hours.

Early this morning, the House of Representatives passed a defense spending bill that includes the Arctic drilling provision. That means our very last hope for saving the Arctic Refuge is riding on the Senate.

Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is leading the charge in the Senate to sacrifice the Arctic Refuge and hand the oil industry a billion-dollar gift for the holidays. He and other pro-drilling Senators have failed to pass their Arctic giveaway through legitimate legislative means.

So now they’re hijacking the defense bill — and funding for American troops — to ram through their special interest agenda. Your Senators are under enormous pressure to vote Yes on this “must-pass” defense spending bill.

Call your Senators and tell them you’re appalled by this abuse of power by Senator Ted Stevens. Urge them to strip Arctic drilling from the defense spending bill, with a filibuster if necessary.

For the sake of the Arctic Refuge, please place your calls right now!

Sincerely,

John H. Adams
NRDC Action Fund

This entry was posted on Monday, December 19th, 2005 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Environment, Livability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.