The ANWR fiasco

Over the past few days, we have seen how difficult it might be to get a bill for the New Orleans levees through Congress. A bill containing essential funds for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as $29 billion in aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina and a little over a $1 billion to patch up the levees, failed to make it through the U.S. Senate after Alaska Senator Ted Stevens added a provision to the bill that would have allowed oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Opponents of drilling in ANWR regretfully stated their intent to filibuster the bill in order to stop the drilling. Senator Stevens believed that the controversial provision would have its best chance of passing if it were added to the must-pass bill providing money for the military and Katrina victims. After most members had gone home for the holidays, the ANWR provision was stripped from the bill and passed through the Senate without a formal vote.

This episode provides a lot of insight into how politics in Washington works. More importantly, it demonstrates the necessity that any bill for future levee aid and aid to struggling New Orleanians must be focused solely on those purposes. This cause is too important to fail, and if we are not careful than aid to levees and Katrina victims could be killed by the addition non-related, pet projects of other legislators or interest groups. A Category 5 levee and aid bill has its best chance of passing if it remains free from the shackles of other controversial add-ons.