Morgan Meguire News

House and Senate leaders are scrambling to complete work on legislative priorities before Friday's (9/26) target year-end adjournment date.  While Congressional leaders are hoping to avoid a post-election, lame-duck session, but it is possible that Congress will have to come back for a short time in November to deal with ...

Late last week, Senate efforts to reach a bipartisan agreement on an energy and other tax extenders bill succeeded.  This plan includes extensions for popular, bipartisan energy tax incentives and other tax credits such as the research and development (R&D) tax credit and the alternative minimum tax (AMT) ...

The House and Energy Commerce Committee decided against considering legislation today (9/23) that would give emergency powers to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in order to protect the nation's power grid against cyber-attacks to the electrical grid.  This authority would apply to "users, owners and ...

On September 18, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) introduced legislation to ease tax laws restricting the ability of banks to purchase municipal bonds to help small municipalities raise cash for their infrastructure projects.  Under current tax law, banks are prohibited from purchasing bonds ...

On September 17, the "Campaign for Fair Electric Rates," whose members include APPA, the Consumers Federation of America, the Electricity Consumers Resource Council (ELCON), Portland Cement Association and Power in the Public Interest (PPI), held a Congressional briefing to educate staff on the problems that persist in RTOs ...

The House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing focused on tax policy options for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on September 18.   A number of proposals have been referred to the Ways and Means Committee in the 110th Congress.  Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) said that the Ways and Means Committee ...

On September 17, that Department of Heath and Human Service Secretary Micheal Leavitt announced the release of $121 million in emergency LIHEAP funding to help offset home heating bills for low-income individuals.  A portion of the fund $96 million will be distributed nationwide, while the remainder will go to states who have a ...

On September 16, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing regarding the current status of electric vehicles and prospects for wider deployment in the near future.  The panel of those testifying included representatives from the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), Toyota Motor North America, ...