Why Are Republicans Holding Up the ANWR Bill?

You might have thought you had heard the end of the debate about ANWR, the proposal to drill for the billions of barrels of oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge.

I've said it a million times, so let me just do the shorthand version.

I've been there. I've seen it. The caribou will be fine. We need the oil. Not a single soldier's life will be in danger protecting this oil supply.

The proposal has been defeated more times than Carter has pills, but it's back again, believe it or not.

The House actually passed an ANWR bill Thursday, and it's going to move on to the U.S. Senate.

It's expected to lose in the Senate. ANWR will remain closed to oil drilling, we will be deprived of American oil just at a time when we need it, and the environmentalists will again declare victory.

But here's the rub: It will be Republicans who give the Democrats and their enviro allies the victory in the U.S. Senate.

For the life of me, I don't understand it.

Republicans are supposed to understand that we need the oil.

Republicans are supposed to understand we don't have to send U.S. troops to defend this oil.

Republicans are supposed to understand that oil companies will be extracting oil using the world's most advanced environmental protections.

Republicans are supposed to understand that locking up American oil so that Americans can't use it is a Democrat trick with their allies, the extreme environmentalists.

We are not going to get ANWR oil again. It's a tragedy and it's stupid, but you cannot blame the enviros or the Democrats. The Senate is Republican country. And when ANWR is defeated again, it will be the fault of Republicans.

Somebody has to explain to me how this makes sense and why a group of Republican senators has become a tool of the extreme environmentalists in this country.

As you fork over $50 or maybe $60 for your Memorial Day fill-up, remember who is keeping American oil locked away where you can't get it: Republicans in the U.S. Senate.

What is the matter with these people?

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