Senate Republicans last Thursday made good on their pledge to file most of the House comprehensive energy bill, H.R. 4, as an amendment to a pending railroad pension benefits measure, setting the stage for a potential floor fight over energy this week in the upper chamber.

Just one day after mapping out their game plan to attach H.R. 4 to any legislation that reaches the Senate floor, Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-AK) moved to submit the H.R. 4 amendment to the railroad retirement bill.

The H.R. 4 amendment includes the controversial provision that would open up about 2,000 acres of the coastal plain region of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and natural gas exploration and production, but it excludes a $30 billion-plus tax provision for the energy industry because of potential problems involving budget offsets. The amendment also proposes a six-month moratorium on embryo cloning.

The Republican action came only days after Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said he wanted to defer debate on energy legislation until the Senate reconvened in January, citing the backlog of other priority legislation that the Senate has to address before it adjourns for the year. GOP senators accused Dashle of “stalling” on energy legislation because of his opposition to ANWR drilling.

A compromise, however, was reached after a “day of intense discussions” last Thursday during which Republicans withdrew their objections to a debate on the railroad retirement benefits bill, and Democrats agreed to proceed to a debate on the omnibus energy amendment, according to Murkowski.

Daschle quickly filed a motion for a cloture vote, which would require Senate Republicans and other supporters to muster 60 votes to end a filibuster so that the H.R. 4 amendment can proceed to the floor to be considered. Daschle has scheduled the cloture vote for 5 p.m. Monday. Democratic Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut have indicated they will filibuster any energy proposal that includes ANWR drilling.

Although the outcome of the vote on the amendment is uncertain, Murkowski believes Republicans have scored a major victory in just getting energy to the Senate floor for debate in the remaining days of the legislative session. He conceded, however, that he is worried that the Senate leadership will use procedural moves to “sidetrack a clear final vote on ANWR.”

If unsuccessful in attaching H.R. 4 to the railroad pension measure, Murkowski said he and other Republicans would file it as an amendment to the economic-stimulus and/or farm reauthorization bills that are due to come before the Senate soon.

“That’s kind of the sequence of where we are…We intend to keep the pressure on and force a vote” on H.R. 4 before the end of the legislative session, he told reporters during a briefing on Capitol Hill. “…[W]e’re ready to debate energy now,” said Murkowski, who noted that “somehow…we are going to prevail on this.”

Meanwhile, Daschle said he plans to introduce a more than 400-page, Democrat-crafted energy bill this week for consideration by the full Senate next year. Senate Energy Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) was busy putting the finishing touches on the legislation last week to forward it to Daschle.

Failure of the Senate to act on an energy bill before adjournment would represent a major setback for the Bush administration, which would prefer to see a stand-alone energy bill from Congress this year. President Bush favors opening ANWR to oil and gas drilling.

The “House has done its job” by passing H.R. 4 prior to the August recess, said Murkowski, but the Senate “has been terribly derelict.”

He indicated that opening ANWR was especially critical now in light of heightened tensions with Iraq, a major OPEC oil producer, and the recent advisory issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation about potential terrorist attacks on domestic natural gas supplies.

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