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Good Luck, Little Buddy

Renewable-energy bill passes House, likely to be short-lived

Posted at 2:47 PM on 27 Feb 2008

By a vote of 236-182, the House of Representatives has approved legislation that would boost renewable-energy tax incentives by repealing $18 billion in tax breaks currently enjoyed by oil and gas companies. Take a moment to enjoy that small victory, because the bill faces steep odds in the Senate, and President Bush has promised to veto it.

source:  Dow Jones

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Comments: (4 comments)

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Political Grandstanding

In addition to the illegitimacy of the House of Lords, AKA the Senate, the Democrats who pursued this bill did so merely to make points with constituents and environmental groups.  If they actually wanted to do something meaningful, these provisions would have been attached to the energy bill and they would not have agreed to pass it without them.  This is a very hollow gesture that anyone should be able to see through.

Luckily, there appears to be an alternative...

Frustrated, Democrats are contemplating adding parts of the energy tax package to a budget reconciliation measure moving through Congress, according to one Democratic aide. Such measures need a simple majority to pass. That would get around a procedural hurdle in the Senate in which 60 votes are needed to move forward on legislation, a hurdle that has been a repeated stumbling block.

This would be their best shot, I think.  True, it didn't pass when they tried to add it onto the "economy in crisis, let's give away free money" bill, but it would certainly be alot better than goin' it alone on a bill that would cut tax breaks to big oil.  And bushy would probably be far more likely to sign it.

But they need to understand...they will NOT be able to pass the green creds so long as they rely on increased taxes from oil to do it.  Not so long as this administration is in power.

And even if we win big in the elections and get a green prez and win more green (mostly democrat) members of the Congress (and that's a fairly LARGE assumption), the creds will still go out by the end of the year and construction on wind, solar, and many others will be cut back significantly until the credits are in place again, which could take months after the new administration comes in.

I'd love more taxes for big oil as well, but we aren't gonna get it soon.  So let's just cut it out for now and get the green creds passed some other way, so we can coast smoothly into increased production next year rather than have to go through a stop-and-see approach, okay?

We're all about growth, right?

Why not simply give renewable energy programs the SAME tax breaks that oil and co. get? It's the talk (no matter how deserved) of taking something away from those industries that gets dubya's hackles up.

All we're asking for (in the short term) is an even playing field. Isn't that something we've been promised by one or two elected officials?

If you continue to do what you've always done you'll continue to get what you've always got. - Yogi Berra

All in favor of......

I am not in favor of half-stepping on renewable energy.The democrats have been doing just that since the last election cycle and very little forward progress has been made for renewable energy,ending the war in Iraq,Impeaching bush/cheney,protecting the environment,protecting the health of american citizens,insurance for children and low income americans,automobile CAFE standards,healthcare,fairer medicine prices for seniors,education,etc.,etc.,etc..

Why not ask why!?

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