WASHINGTON, DC — Democrats in the U.S. Senate along with some Republicans have rejected the proposed amendments to the Senate energy bill calling for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.

Republican leaders who had hoped to end debate and force votes on the two amendments could not assemble a majority. And without 60 votes, they would not have been able to stop a threatened Democratic filibuster.

The vote to stop debate on the amendment by Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK) to allow oil exploration in the region failed by 46 to 54. The attempt to conclude debate on the amendment by Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) to use 50% of the revenue generated from oil leases and royalties to aid U.S. steel companies — designed to attract support from the steel states — lost by a vote of 36 to 64.