Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. House Republican leaders removed from a $50.5 billion budget-cutting plan a provision that would have opened an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling in an effort to win support from dissenting members in their party.

The House Rules Committee approved the change last night. The drilling proposal, which the Senate approved last week, would allow oil companies such as Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp. and London-based BP Plc to drill on 1.5 million acres in the 19 million-acre Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. House leaders also removed a provision to allow more offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

A group of 26 Republicans objected to inclusion of the drilling provisions in legislation, which is designed to reduce the federal deficit by cutting government spending over five years. The House is scheduled to vote on the package today.

``I'm pleased we are moving the process forward,'' said Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle, an Iowa Republican. ``I knew from the beginning this was going to be a challenge.''

The drilling might still be part of the final legislation after negotiations on the spending cuts package between the House and Senate.

Senate Republican negotiators will press to keep the oil drilling in the final measure, said Amy Call, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. The Senate last week passed a package of cuts totaling $35 billion that included the Alaska drilling measure, known as ANWR.

``It's the leader's intention to keep ANWR in,'' Call said.

Debate

The legislation will be debated in the House for about two hours today and leaders have reserved the right to postpone the debate once it begins, a tactic that would enable them to take more time to win support if necessary. Removal of the drilling provisions should give leaders enough votes for passages, said Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, a California Republican.

``We're doing everything we can to make sure this important deficit reduction act passes,'' he said. ``We wouldn't proceed with it if we didn't think we were going to be successful.''

The opposition of Republican lawmakers in the House to the drilling provisions threatened to imperil passage of the comprehensive budget measure, which includes cuts to benefit programs such as Medicaid and food stamps and also has revenue- raising measures. Selling leases to oil companies to drill in the refuge would bring in about $2.5 billion.

`Won't Go Anywhere'

``They understand this thing won't go anywhere with ANWR in it,'' said Representative Charlie Bass, a New Hampshire Republican. Bass wrote a letter Nov. 8 that was signed by 25 other Republican lawmakers to House leaders asking that the Alaska provision be stripped.

Leaders also agreed to limit some of the cuts to food stamps that would have affected some elderly illegal immigrants.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California has said she expects all 202 House Democrats to vote against the package of spending cuts, meaning the 231 Republicans could afford to lose the support of no more than 13 of the party's lawmakers to get the 218 votes needed for passage. The spending cuts are a cornerstone of President George W. Bush's plan to cut the deficit, which was $319 billion in the year that ended Sept. 30.

``Rather then reversing decades of protection for this publicly held land, focusing greater attention on renewable energy sources, alternate fuels, and more efficient systems and appliances would yield more net energy savings,'' Bass said in the letter to House Republican leaders.

House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, and other House leaders worked throughout the day yesterday to wrestle votes in favor of the package from Republicans who are holding out their support. Blunt took the lead, meeting with two dozen lawmakers, either in groups or one-on-one, in his Capitol office suite or on the House floor, said his spokeswoman, Burson Taylor.

Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican who chairs the Energy and Commerce Committee, said yesterday he won't vote for a package that doesn't include ANWR.

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Dodge in Washington at cdodge@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 10, 2005 00:11 EST