Energy: Improvements Made, But Not on the Tax Front
This week the House approved an energy bill (H.R. 6) that the Senate passed last week after stripping from it a $21 billion tax title that would have shifted tax breaks away from oil and gas companies to more sustainable energy sources. In the Senate, the bill with the tax package received 59 votes, one short of the 60-vote threshold needed to consider the bill, prompting Democratic Senate leaders to remove the tax provisions.
The remaining provisions, which passed easily, are still important. They would increase fuel efficiency standards for automobile manufacturers (known as corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE) to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 and would require gasoline to contain a certain level of biofuels by 2022. The President signed this legislation on Thursday.
