7-28-08 by dugan
At first, the fight in the Senate over whether renewable energy tax credits should be extended for a few more years seemed like political Kabuki theater: Republican opponents in the Senate would hold up the bill with complaints about using "taxes" to fund it, then find a way to keep funding the environmental equivalent of motherhood. After all, every single U.S. governor supports the credits, which keep wind and solar electric power in the same price range as natural gas and coal. Now, however, this phony debate is getting into danger territory.
If the renewal of the long-standing tax credits isn’t passed this week, before Congress goes on vacation, investment in wind and solar projects will vanish. The credits don’t technically expire until the end of the year, and even the White House, which opposes the bill in its current form, isn’t drafting regulations to actually cancel the credits. But uncertainty is the enemy of markets for wind and solar. In past years, when the credits weren’t renewed on time, projects were canceled and "green jobs" were lost.
It’s such a ridiculous fight, with conservative White House allies essentially demanding that credits be funded by increasing the federal deficit–which is already busting all previous records. Democratic supporters want to fund the bill by closing corporate tax loopholes. First they tried to cut oil industry subsidies, which was beaten back by the oil lobby. Now the bill would close some financial industry loopholes. No dice on that, either, with GOP leaders calling both ideas "tax increases." There’s also the usual pork in the measure, including an admittedly needed rail line from Manhattan to Kennedy Airport.
A majority in the Senate supports the bill, but opponents are wielding the filibuster rule that demands a 60-vote supermajority in order to take a vote.
Even opponents concede that the bill is too popular–and too beneficial–to kill.
From a Denver Post story:
Everyone from the renewable trade groups
to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is lobbying in favor of legislation.
They’re putting pressure on senators from states with renewable-energy
industries, including Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Dakota,
Kansas and New Hampshire.But the political stalemate could last awhile longer. "Nobody
wants to just give in right away," said Don Stewart, spokesman for
[Senate Republican leader Mitch] McConnell, who also believes "it’s going to be harder and harder to be
in the way of this thing, the further along we go."
In that case, why in blue blazes are you taking it to the brink?
One of these days, Senate leaders should just call the filibuster bluff. Haul in the army cots, call in the TV cameras, invite the bloggers, keep the news lines open
24/7 and entertain the citizenry with shots of old folks sleeping in the cloakroom. Stock up on sandwiches and force the filibusterers to read recipes, recite poetry, stay awake in shifts and keep the verbiage going until one side collapses from exhaustion–the way it was done in the old days.
If one of the most popular environmental programs in the country can get caught in this kind of political cat fight, we should think about also turning off the air conditioning (to remind Senators of global warming), and making opponents debate in their underwear.