Until last year, a budget rule prohibited Congress from assuming that the federal deficit would be reduced by revenues from future sales of national "assets," such as national parks or oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The rule helped discourage misguided sell-offs of publicly held natural resources and parks. The 104th Congress dropped the rule and began allowing this speculative practice in 1995.

Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-AR) tried to reinstate the original budget rule with an amendment to S. Con. Res. 57, the Fiscal Year 1997 Budget Resolution. He argued that the new practice encourages selling natural resources at a fraction of their true value, instead of conserving and protecting them for the long-term. The Bumpers amendment would have prevented Congress from including in its budget plan any revenues from oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

On May 22, 1996, the Senate approved Sen. Pete Domenici's (R-NM) motion to table (kill) the Bumpers amendment, 52 - 46. NO is the pro-environment vote.