Definitely a better mood here since the election...
Alaska sits in catbird seat
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GOP CONGRESS: Stevens holds budget reins; ANWR drilling becomes possible.
By David Whitney
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: November 8, 2002)
Washington -- Alaska stands to gain substantially from the Republican takeover of the Senate in Tuesday's elections.
Not only does it restore Sen. Ted Stevens to his perch as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee -- from which he has diverted billions of dollars into the state's economy -- but it gives advocates of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge what may be their best opportunity to get it through Congress.
John Katz, head of the governor's office in Washington, noted that "Republicans will control all key policy positions in Alaska and Washington, D.C.
"There will be a lot of communication and cooperation on Alaska issues," he said. "Secondly, Republicans will now have the opportunity to set the national agenda, and a large part of that is energy and natural resources important to Alaska, particularly the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."
But one irony is that the state's junior senator, Gov.-elect Frank Murkowski, will not be at the helm of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to help make that happen, even though it has been his top priority in the Senate since exploration was first proposed by President Reagan in 1986.
Because of Murkowski's easy win Tuesday, he will resign his seat in December -- and his opportunity to reclaim the gavel from Democratic chairman Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico. Instead, Murkowski will appoint a fellow Republican to fill the remaining two years of his Senate term, and that person will be at the bottom of the Senate seniority ladder.
Already on Capitol Hill, change is in the air.
"We are certainly now aware that we will be packing up the office," said Murkowski's press aide, Chuck Kleeschulte. "We have 22 years of correspondence and files to send to wherever they are going in Alaska. We have a great deal of work to do before the new senator arrives in December."
Alaska is not used to having freshmen in Congress. That last newcomer in the three-member congressional delegation was Murkowski, who has been around since 1981.
The state's representative, Don Young, was easily re-elected Tuesday. He returns in a senior leadership role next year as the continuing chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where he will direct the production of massive highway and water project bills. Young, who turns 70 next year, will be in his 16th term.
But the senior member of the delegation remains Stevens, who turns 79 on Nov. 18. As it turns out, he will also be the most senior Republican in the Senate because of the retirement of Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. That distinction makes Stevens the Senate president pro tempore, who presides over the Senate -- or, more typically, assigns that task to others on a rotation.
Stevens will have other tasks with his new title, as well as a salary equal to that of Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, who will resume the job of Senate majority leader in the next Congress. The Senate president pro tempore is an ex officio member of the Republican Policy Committee, appoints members of various national commissions, names the director of the Congressional Budget Office and in the absence of the vice president -- who under the Constitution is the Senate's designated presiding officer -- can sign legislation.
But most of Stevens' responsibilities in the new Congress will be on the first floor of the Capitol, where he will move back into the ornate, ceremonial offices of the Senate Appropriations Committee and oversee the process of spending the federal budget.
Stevens has excelled at directing an increasing share of federal spending to his state, creating new social and economic programs and gradually erasing any obstacles barring Alaska from program revenue streams.
"While Senator Stevens works effectively whether in the majority or minority, there is no question that resumption of his chairmanship will facilitate his advocacy of appropriations important to Alaska," Katz said.
On the immediate horizon, Stevens also may have to shoulder a larger share of the work advocating for the opening of the Arctic refuge until his new unnamed colleague gets some time under his or her belt. The refuge's coastal plain is believed to hold billions of barrels of undiscovered oil, but drilling for it also is the most controversial environmental issue before Congress.
With Democrats in control of the Senate this session, they've been able to keep the opening of the refuge out of any Senate-passed energy policy bill. But drilling was easily approved in the House, where Republicans will have an even wider margin of control next year.
The House and Senate were never able to reach agreement on a compromise energy bill this fall, and with the change in leadership, Congress will now drop the issue until the next session, when it will start anew.
David Woodruff, Republican spokesman on the Senate Energy Committee, believes the Republican victory Tuesday in reclaiming control of the Senate virtually ensures that the panel will approve drilling in the refuge as part of its energy plan.
"This is indeed good news for Alaska," he said. "Opening ANWR was a top priority for President Bush, and obviously you'll have a leadership much more interested in pursuing that."
Pete Rafle of The Wilderness Society cautioned, however, that the battle over Arctic drilling is hardly over just because a couple more Republicans will be serving in the Senate next year.
"Republicans would like to make drilling front and center again," he said. "But the conservation community is preparing to mount a defense of the refuge no less determined than this year. The balance of power in the Senate may have changed, but the basic equation in the energy debate hasn't. We still cannot drill our way to energy independence."
But Katz, who has been in Washington nearly as long as Stevens and Young in various capacities, thinks the edge clearly shifts to Alaska's advantage next year.
While there are still not enough votes in the Senate to block a filibuster of a drilling provision, he said there are various scenarios where the Republican congressional leadership can position a drilling authorization in such a way as to make it difficult for opponents to use procedural tactics like the filibuster to block it. |
