9-23-08 by dugan
Hopes for a comprehensive energy policy or energy policy this year are long over, but the Senate today limped to approval of the barest minimum–an extension of wind and solar power tax credits so investments won’t vanish like Cinderella’s pumpkin coach on December 31, when the current credits expire. Unlike the House bill, the Senate bill leaves oil company tax subsidies untouched, meaning the credits will just be added to the debt pile, as will a one-year waiver of the vile Alternative Minimum Tax.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a short speech before the final vote, all but begged the House to accept the Senate bill untouched: "If the House doesn’t pass this, the responsibility [for failure] is on them."
The only thing the Senate bill is better than is nothing. But in utterly gridlocked Washington, it’s an accomplishment even to renew a tax credit backed by all 50 governors and most major business groups. At least, also unlike the House bill, the Senate didn’t pretend to compromise on the "drill now" mania.
At least the bills that would constitute an energy policy are written. They’ll be piled up at the door of the next Congress in January.