Today (6/17), Senate Democratic leaders tried again today to pass a package of renewable energy and energy efficiency tax incentives as part of a broader tax "extenders bill." Once again, the cloture motion (i.e. to limit debate and proceed to the bill) failed, by a vote of 52-44, largely along party lines. Sixty votes are needed to invoke cloture.
The bill, the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act (H.R. 6049), which passed the House on May 21 by a vote of 263-160, extends various tax incentives for clean energy development, individuals, and businesses. The Senate first tried on June 10 to invoke cloture on a slightly modified version of the House-passed bill, but it failed by a vote of 50-44.
Both today's and last week's votes were partisan, with only several Republicans joining the Democrats in voting for cloture both times; on June 10, Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Bob Corker (R-TN) voted with Democrats and today, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Norm Coleman (R-MN) also voted in favor.
Republican opposition continues to focus on the "offsets" included in the bill, which Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) and others characterize as "tax increases."
Substantively, the House and Senate versions of H.R. 6049 are similar, and include extensions of the production tax credit for renewable energy, investment tax credit for solar power, and the Clean Renewable Energy Bond (CREB) program, among other things. Specifically, it includes $2 billion in additional bonding authority for CREBs and the technical fixes public power has been advocating.
It is unclear how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) will now proceed - whether they will continue to push for additional cloture votes on the same package, drop the "offsets" that Republicans oppose (which would then face obstacles in the House), or wait until the "lame duck" session to advance a smaller package. If they do the latter, it is likely that Democrats will try to advance a larger, more robust package of incentives in the next Congress, when Democrats hope to pick up additional seats in both chambers.
It is also possible that the 110th Congress will not act on "extenders," given the partisan climate in Washington. If that is the case, it is rumored that the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committee Chairmen may issue a statement indicating their support for a seamless extension of all expiring provisions on a retroactive basis.