Bob McCarty Writes

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

Thanks to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), legislation that will further hinder our nation’s ability to become energy independent (i.e., depend less upon foreign sources of oil and natural gas) is one step closer to becoming law.

There are at least a couple of provisions — and perhaps more — in the just-passed Omnibus Public Lands Bill, S. 22, that could close about 25-million acres of land to oil and natural gas exploration and production, according to a petroleum industry official with whom I spoke this afternoon.  That amounts to an area of land one-third larger than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and 16 times larger than the portion of ANWR being considered for development.

In a rare Sunday cloture vote on the matter, 66 senators supported the bill over 12 who voted “nay” on it, according to a Townhall article by Amanda Carpenter published soon after the vote.  Sadly, not a single Democratic senator voted against the measure, and 17 Republicans protested the bill by skipping the vote altogether.

So why didn’t more Republicans oppose the measure?  Because, according to my source on Capitol Hill, there were not too many Senators, beyond those 12, who were going to vote against this bill because it contained about 150 public lands bills that these members have been working to pass for years.

Expected to pass the House by the end of the week, this bill is expected to garner strong bipartisan support, according to my source, and the relatively few Republicans opposing the measure are probably more inclined to boycott the vote since the end result appears to be inevitable.

The link to the roll call vote is right here.

If, like me, you’re tired of the do-nothing Democrats in Congress getting in the way of securing our nation’s energy future, take action today and Solve the Energy Crisis: DRILL CONGRESS!

U.S. Senate S.22 Votes 1-11-09

UPDATE 1-15-09: I correct the post above by inserting “cloture” into the third paragraph above.  Today, the Senate passed the one that counts — the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act — by a 73-21 margin.  As stated above, the bill now goes to the House and then to the President’s desk.

Hat tip:  American Thinker