Energy legislation will come to a head in the Senate this week, as Republicans are expected to try to attach the House comprehensive energy bill (H.R. 4) to the economic-stimulus package that is scheduled for debate on the floor, according to Capitol Hill observers.

A group of Senate Republicans, “up to and including” Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK), is expected to propose H.R. 4 as an amendment to the economic-stimulus bill this week, said Martin Edwards, director of legislative affairs for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA). Democratic Sens. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and John Kerry of Massachusetts have vowed to filibuster such a proposal because it would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and natural gas drilling. Republicans would have to muster 60 votes to override the Democratic filibuster to bring their proposal to the floor for a vote.

In the event the Republicans can’t obtain the needed 60 votes, they may agree to withdraw their amendment in return for a guarantee of a “specific timeframe” for H.R. 4 to be debated next year from Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, he noted. The Republicans would seek a “specific week” for legislation to be debated, which “I would think would be sometime in February” 2002.

“At this point it’s very touch and go,” said Edwards. “I just don’t know” if the Republican senators have the needed 60 votes to override a Democratic filibuster.

“If they’re not successful in attaching a bill, I think they will be successful in negotiating an agreement with Daschle. Either way, it would be viewed as a win” for the Republicans, he said. “At this point, they want time to have the debate…They want to lock in a specific timeframe” for the debate.

A Republican spokesman for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of which Murkowski is the ranking Republican member, said “we’re taking it day by day, but it looks like that [attaching H.R. 4] will be the case. We’re leaning in that direction.” The Republican objective is to advance comprehensive energy legislation before the end of the year, he noted.

Sens. Murkowski, Larry Craig (R-ID) and Craig Thomas (R-WY) have scheduled a press briefing for Wednesday during which they are expected to provide “all the details” on their game plan and strategy, and again call on the Democratic leadership to move on energy legislation during this session.

At the other end of Pennsylvania Ave., Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Interior Secretary Gale Norton met early Tuesday with White House officials to discuss “ways to get the energy bill going this year” in the Senate, noted one source. “This shows they are putting emphasis” on this.

Meanwhile, Senate Energy Committee Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) is “just about through” with the energy legislation that he and other committee members have been working on, said a Democratic spokesman for the panel, adding that a draft of the measure is being circulated to other Senate committees that share jurisdiction. The bill could be forwarded “at any moment” to Daschle.

Despite all the flurry of activity on Capitol Hill now, INGAA’s Edwards still thinks it’s very unlikely that a “finished” energy bill will emerge from Congress this year.

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