Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) said last week that while he would like to take up energy legislation as quickly as the “schedule allows,” it takes a backseat to the other more pressing issues that are facing the Senate.

There are a number of “must-pass” pieces of legislation such as economic stimulus, airport security, bioterrorism, appropriations and a farm measure that the upper chamber must address before it can focus on an energy bill, Daschle told reporters during a press briefing last Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

If the Senate decides to return after Thanksgiving Day, he said he would be “more than happy to allocate the time allowed” for an energy bill then, providing the “must-pass” bills have been completed. But if not, the bill would likely have to be held over until next year.

Senate Republicans still may try to attach energy measures — including one proposing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — to the economic-stimulus bill or some other legislative vehicle, although it’s doubtful they would have the needed 60 votes to override a filibuster.

At a separate press briefing last week, energy legislation did not even make the radar-screen of Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS).

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