Anchorage Daily News

Washington -- Senate action on energy legislation, and a likely confrontation over whether to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, is being put off until early next year.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Tuesday he is committed to bringing an energy bill up for floor debate within the first weeks after Congress returns in January.

Daschle has said that other pressing matters, such as economic recovery, national security in light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and remaining government spending bills leave no time to deal with energy this year.

It is "not only my expectation, but my commitment that we will take the bill up during that first work period" next year, meaning before the Senate's recess for Presidents' Day in mid-February.

Congress is expected to recess in mid-December and return in January.

Senate Democrats are pushing for a bill that, unlike Bush's, tilts more toward conservation than energy production, does not permit drilling in ANWR and calls for higher miles-per-gallon standards for sport utility vehicles.

In August, the House passed an energy bill that closely resembled Bush's vision; reconciling the House and Senate plans may now prove difficult.

GOP lawmakers were furious Tuesday about the delay, contending that energy policy is an issue of national security, made more imperative by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the recent rise in tensions between the United States and Iraq.

"Next year is not soon enough for energy," argued Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, perhaps the Senate's most dogged advocate for drilling in the Arctic refuge.

Citing President Bush's criticism this week of Iraq for its refusal to allow in weapons inspectors, Murkowski said, "If Baghdad is our next target after Kandahar, what's going to happen to that oil?"

Daschle spokesman Doug Hattaway countered that "the Republican energy proposal has nothing to do with national security."

"Everyone knows we won't get a drop of oil out of Alaska for 10 years and it won't last more than a few days," he added.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said he would ask Bush to become more involved in pressing Congress to act quickly on the bill. Environmentalists, industry representatives and Republican political analysts all remarked that Daschle appears to be calling the shots on energy policy.

"You're seeing Daschle line up the political plays he wants to make next spring and summer to set his party up for the midterm elections," said Scott Reed, a GOP strategist. "Bush's challenge is to continue to be engaged with domestic issues -- starting with the economy -- and secondary issues -- like an energy policy -- to show that he can govern."

But prospects for the president's energy plan are eroding because California's energy crisis, fresh in lawmakers' minds when the House adopted its bill, has passed, and a nationwide energy crisis never materialized.

"Barring another crisis, it's going to be very difficult for the administration to revive the issue and overcome the environmental obstacles," said Marshall Wittmann, a political scholar at the conservative Hudson Institute.

Short of a crisis, pushing for hefty federal funding and tax breaks for energy companies looks to people "like the administration is just helping out their wealthy supporters," Wittmann said.

As on many other issues, Democrats and Republicans are sharply divided on energy policy, and it is not clear how they might compromise. The GOP favors more drilling and deregulation of markets, while Democrats focus more on conservation and promoting alternative fuels to help meet America's future energy needs.

Daschle said more time is needed to draft and consider a Senate measure, but his critics say he is holding off a floor vote because of fears that allowing drilling in the Alaskan refuge may have gained more Democratic supporters since the Sept. 11 attacks.

"He would have a vote if he were confident he could keep the refuge out of the bill," said Jerry Taylor, an energy analyst at the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank.

The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune contributed to this story.