Today, as you have no doubt heard by now,
Senator Stevens' attempt to get the Arctic drilling scheme to Bush's desk for him to sign was foiled.
The Cantwell-led filibuster effort was successful, with forty three senators voting to continue debate on the defense bill, thus preventing it from passing.
All Democratic Senators except for 4 - Daniel Inouye, Daniel Akaka (Hawaii) Mary Landrieu (Louisiana), and Ben Nelson (Nebraska) - joined the filibuster.
All Republican senators voted to cut off debate, except for 2 - Republicans Lincoln Chaffee (Rhode Island) and Mike DeWine (Ohio) - who joined the filibuster.
After it became clear that Cantwell's bloc was going to prevail, Frist joined on as well, so he can bring it back up again.
Senator Cantwell's leadership deserves a round of applause. Ted Stevens is an arrogant whiner who is usually able to twist arms and get his way. For refusing to be cowed, Cantwell needs to be commended.
Reaction and more information about the vote below the fold.
Here at Daily Kos, when our elected representatives and senators in Congress show spines, we need to let them know of our thanks, and that we've got their backs.
The filibuster received surprising support from Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman. Known around here for selling out the party, Lieberman does not enjoy a very prestigious reputation (and deservedly so). For this legislative go-around, it was nice to have not only moementum, but Joementum as well.
Here's a sampling of some of the reactions from today's successful filibuster. Let's start with Senator Maria Cantwell:
"This was a great bipartisan victory for all members who worked to play by the rules and a great bipartisan victory for our troops. I'm glad we stood up to say that this trickery. It's time to fund and support the troops now without anymore tricks. Now that we've successfully removed these provisions from this legislation, we can get down to business and deliver to our men and women in uniform around the world the resources they need to do their jobs and keep America safe. We successfully stopped drilling in the Arctic for now, but we will remain vigilant next year to make sure that the country focuses its energy on real solutions to our over dependence on foreign oil and not Christmas packages for the oil companies."
Senator John Kerry had this to say:
Today you proved what can happen when we stand up against the abuse of power in Washington. Today the Senate kept faith with our troops and we stopped the Republican leadership from drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Thanks to your powerful advocacy over the past 48 hours, the Senate today stopped the Republican leaders and President Bush from passing a bill that would have allowed drilling in the Arctic and put oil companies' profits before the needs of the nation.
While the fight is never over, we hope that these special interest provisions will now be stripped from the bill, and our troops and military commanders will get the help that they so desperately need without all the extra special interest favors the Republican leaders added to the bill to help their political allies. It never would have happened without your support.
Although we won today, it is crystal clear that President Bush and the Republicans do not share the priorities of the American people -- and we have to be ready to take the fight to them once again in 2006.
Thank you for all your support, your passion and your dedication. I'm proud of our johnkerry.com community -- and I'm especially proud that you helped to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Joe Lieberman:
It took a lot of guts for a lot of people to stand up and say 'I feel too strongly about ANWR and preventing drilling, but really more than that- I feel too strongly that if we allow ourselves to be intimidated into casting a vote here that we don t really believe is right, we are not doing our job.
From the leader of the Alaska chapter of the Sierra Club:
"Ted Stevens' power is really shifting- today's vote is an example of people willing to stand up to him and say enough is enough," said said Betsy Goll.
From Snowe of Maine, who voted to cut off debate:
"I find it deeply regrettable that we were faced with this choice due to the inappropriate inclusion of the ANWR measure in the Defense Appropriations bill, which I believe discredits the integrity of the legislative process in the Senate," said Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).
Here's an excerpt from the League of Conservation Voters' release (The LCV's first major endorsement for the 2006 elections cycle, by the way, of any Senate incumbent, was Sen. Maria Cantwell):
We applaud Sen. Maria Cantwell for successfully leading the fight to reject this shameful political attempt to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Today's vote to protect the Arctic represents the triumph of democracy over greed. Cynical attempts to hold hostage funds to support our troops, offer relief to hurricane ravaged states and warm the cold, old and poor in order to benefit a select few failed before our eyes.
In addition, Sen. Cantwell's ongoing efforts to prevent unneeded and dirty drilling in our pristine wilderness areas is another example of her commitment to fighting for Washington families and standing up to the big oil companies - because drilling in the Arctic will not lower gas prices or reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil.
LCV praises those members who stood with the majority of the American people in rejecting this abuse of power and protecting one of our national treasures. And Rest assured, LCV will keep close tabs on those public servants who ignored the wishes of the majority of Americans and sided with big oil special interests.
The Sierra Club released this statement:
ARCTIC REFUGE VICTORY FOR ALL AMERICANS
Washington, D.C. -- In an against-all-odds victory for wildlife, wild places and all Americans, the Senate today rebuffed attempts to attach controversial provisions to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the Defense spending bill.
"Drilling proponents have pulled out all the stops, and tried every trick in their playbook to open up the Arctic Refuge to no avail," said Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director. "This is a tremendous victory for all Americans and proof positive that the fate of the Arctic Refuge must be debated on its merits, not as part of a sneak attack."
Drilling proponents have now failed to include Arctic drilling on energy, budget and defense bills. The deplorable effort to link Arctic drilling to funding for America's troops and Hurricane Katrina relief, led by Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) and bolstered by intense lobbying from the Bush administration, failed in a cloture vote 44-56 (cloture requires 60 votes).
"We applaud those Senators who refused to let drilling proponents manipulate them and the democratic process," said Pope. "Today's vote reaffirmed the Senate's role as a deliberative body, not a place where unrelated and controversial issues are tacked on to any bill without debate and at the whim of special interests."
Senator Stevens -- the man who brought us the $450 million "bridges to nowhere" -- tried to bully the Senate into passing a bill that benefits his state and the oil industry at the expense of all Americans.
"This year the oil industry squeezed Americans at the gas pump to the tune of billions in record profits, carved out billions more in government subsidies, and then lied to Congress. Senator Stevens held defense spending and hurricane relief hostage to help Big Oil out," said Pope. "Today the Senate gave the oil industry and Stevens the lump of coal they deserved. We will remain vigilant as those who would plunder the Arctic Refuge for short-term gain are clearly willing to try anything regardless of cost."
"Americans want real energy solutions that protect special places like the Arctic Refuge. Today that message was heard loud and clear," said Pope. "Drilling proponents tried every excuse, but Americans know that Arctic drilling would not put a dent in our dependence on foreign oil, would do nothing to strengthen our national security, and would not save consumers money at the pump."
A recent report from the U.S. Department of Energy's own Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that even 20 years down the road, when Arctic Refuge oil would be at or near peak production, gas prices would only be affected by about a penny per gallon. The United States sits on just 3 % of the world's known petroleum reserves. Government estimates indicate that there is less than a year's supply of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and even the oil industry admits it would take 10 years to make it to US markets.
What have we learned from what happened today? We've learned that when Democrats show stiff resolve,
we win. If we don't put up a fight, we have no chance of winning. We won't be able to win every time. We have to face the grim reality:
for now, we are the minority party. We need to act like the opposition.
Democrats have to stop America from being raped and plundered. The world is looking to us to stop Bush, Delay, and Frist. We are being watched. This is one of our greatest tests of strength. Can we stop the environmental destruction, tax cuts for the wealthy, corporate giveaways, and assaults on our freedoms? We can't if we don't fight. This community itself is a source of hope because it's ALWAYS eager for a fight! And that is one of the reasons why DailyKos is so awesome. It doesn't matter if the odds are against us.
We are the ones we have been waiting for. If we lead, others will follow. We need to provide the critical support our representatives and senators in Congress need so they don't get decimated when they beat back the Republican machine.
We have a long road ahead of us. But every victory means something. And every time someone like Maria Cantwell stands up and says "Enough is enough!" we need to close ranks behind that individual or group of individuals.
The AP has called this a "stinging defeat" for Alaska's Senator Ted Stevens. Let's work to ensure that Stevens gets slapped with many more stinging defeats in the coming months.