Senate approves Alaska oil drilling

Amid the backdrop of soaring oil and gasoline prices, a sharply divided Senate on Wednesday voted to open the ecologically rich Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, delivering a major energy policy win for President George W. Bush.The Senate, by a 51-49 vote, rejected an attempt by Democrats and moderate Republicans to remove a refuge drilling provision from next year's budget, preventing opponents from using a filibuster, a tactic that has blocked repeated past attempts to open the Alaska refuge to oil companies.The action, assuming Congress agrees on a budget, clears the way for approving drilling in the refuge later this year...