One would think that all the brouhaha about $4-a-gallon gas prices would get Congress to act on passing legislation addressing energy policy. Perhaps they would, if this were not an election year.
That’s the current excuse as to why the bill to extend renewable energy tax credits was stymied in the Senate yesterday – June 10, 2008. The bill fell 10 votes short of the amount it needed to make it to the floor for debate. According to the New York Times, Democrats sensed that even asking Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, or ailing Senators Edward Kennedy and Robert Byrd back to vote would not change the outcome. (Note John McCain was not there either.) True the vote was 50–44 in favor and fell largely along party lines, but 10 votes is a significant gap.
Perhaps the bill also perished because the Democrats tried to bring to the floor a different bill that would have created a windfall profits tax of 25% for the oil industry with the proceeds earmarked to fund new renewable energy initiatives. Plans to fund the renewable energy tax credits came from closing a loophole that targets specific offshore corporations (essentially hedge-fund managers). Taken together, the two bills gave Republicans the fodder they needed to decry any new taxes.
Who knows what will happen next. There are still six months left before the end of the year. Six months provides enough time in politics – to borrow a cliché – for anything to happen.
