Russ Feingold: “I oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but if we are going to debate this policy, we should do so…”

“I oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but if we are going to debate this policy, we should do so openly--not through a backdoor budget maneuver. My colleagues who want to open the Arctic Refuge to drilling should go through the regular legislative process that the rest of us use to advance policy initiatives. After all, what message do you send when you manipulate a process simply because the normal procedure does not give you the outcome you want? That is not a message this body should endorse. Proponents will say that using the budget process is the only way they can get an up-or-down vote. My response is simple. I know how hard it is to be very close to having the votes to pass legislation, but not quite being there. Senator McCain and I worked very hard on our campaign finance reform legislation to get the votes needed to move forward--it took years--but we stuck with it until we could get the legislation passed. We fought hard but we fought fair. We did not--and we would not have--tried to advance our legislation by manipulating the budget process. This single reconciliation instruction opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is simply out of bounds. My concerns, however, go beyond the obvious abuse of process. The bottom line is that the revenue assumptions are highly speculative and in no way reflect reality.…”