ANWR has left the House
WASHINGTON--Leaders pulled a bill to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the House floor Wednesday after finding that a provision designed to entice coal-state senators endangered passage in the House.
The House schedule as late as Wednesday morning called for a vote on the ANWR bill, but as the day progressed, it became obvious that it wouldn't happen.
The bill, when unveiled last week, not only opened ANWR to drilling but also promised that any federal revenues would pay health benefits for retired coal miners.
The idea was to make the ANWR bill, once sent to the Senate, more attractive to Democratic senators from coal states such as West Virginia. Despite a slight Republican majority in the Senate, drilling supporters have not been able to muster the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster and, in the most recent attempts, haven't even secured a simple majority of 51.
Read - "ANWR has left the House" [Fairbanks News-Miner]