Alaska Oil

Many people, including Republican Senator Ted Stevens from Alaska suffered a major defeat. Republicans in the Senate did not have enough votes, only 57, to overcome a threat by Democrat’s to filibuster the defense spending bill, if the drilling provision was included.

This is one more strike against the oil hungry policy-makers and a win for the environment. The defense spending bill, totaling $453.5 billion, included money to help hurricane relief and other needed funds. As stated by CNN.com in a recent article, many Senators, on both sides of the isle, were "angered" over Sen. Stevens addition of this provision, which many people on Capital Hill knew would be controversial and lead to delay in passage of the bill.

Sen. Harry Reid (D – Nevada) said that "Our military is being held hostage by this issue, Arctic drilling."

Sen. Stevens (R – Alaska) countered with the statement that "Every time this subject comes up ... the minority has filibustered."

(Update: CNN.com link broken)