According to CNN and Yahoo News, Senate Republicans blocked a broad energy bill today because it included billions of dollars in new taxes on the biggest oil companies.
Democratic leaders fell one vote short in getting the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster. Democrats said that they will strip the taxes from the legislation and move the bill forward.
The legislation actually repealed tax breaks for the largest oil companies, required a 40 percent boost in automobile fuel efficeiency and a massive increase in the use of ethanol as a motor fuel. I am all for it except for cutting the tax breaks. Repealing them just doesn't make sense because it is telling oil companies that they have to start spending more money to make things more efficient but taking away the money that they need to spend at the same time.
Major provisions in the energy bill include:
- Rapidly ramp up the required production of ethanol, eventually to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022, a sevenfold increase. At least 21 billion gallons must be from feedstock other than corn such as prairie grasses and wood chips.
- Increase energy efficiency requirements for appliances and federal and commercial buildings and require faster approval of federal energy efficiency standards.
- Offer tax incentives to develop plug-in hybrid electric cars and establishes tax credits for buying the vehicles.
- Authorize new clean energy bonds to be used by communities to finance power generation from wind, biomass, new hydropower and other renewable sources.
Technorati: Energy Bill,Congress,Republicans,Filibuster,Ethanol,Taxes
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