Energy tax credits stalled in Senate
The GOP is adamant on not passing bills until issues with gas prices are addressed.
WASHINGTON - For the fourth time this summer Republicans have stopped the Senate from taking up wide-ranging legislation that provides tax credits to an array of renewable-energy entrepreneurs and extends tax breaks for teachers, businesses and parents.
Major business groups, which usually are GOP allies, have implored Congress to act on the tax credits, many of which expired at the end of last year or will run out at the end of this year.
But for many Republicans, it's a matter of principle and politics: Many oppose what they say are new tax increases to pay for parts of the package and nearly all say the Senate's only business now should be to act on an energy bill that promotes drilling and other measures to boost domestic oil supply.
The vote yesterday was 51-43, nine short of the 60 needed to begin floor debate on the bill. Among area senators, Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) was the only one to vote against the measure.
"All the Republicans want to do is not pay for anything, and we know the House would not accept that," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), anticipating the defeat.
Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) said his party saw a "need to dispose of the pending energy bill to help bring down the price of gas at the pump before turning to other matters."
The bill would extend $18 billion in renewable-energy tax credits, helping out investors in wind and solar power, clean coal, plug-in electric vehicles, and a variety of others.
The bill, S. 3335, also seeks to extend the research-and-development tax credit that expired in December, and revive tax credits for the deduction of state and local general sales taxes, higher-education tuition, and teacher expenses.
The package would cover the cost of the tax breaks by raising $54 billion over 10 years by preventing hedge-fund managers and others from deferring certain overseas profits and by delaying a tax break for multinational corporations.
In another partisan standoff yesterday, a Democratic proposal in the House to counter oil-market speculation fell victim to the dispute over offshore drilling for oil, failing, 276-151. All area representatives voted in favor of the measure except Joseph R. Pitts (R., Pa.) and H. James Saxton (R., N.J.).
That was nine votes short of the two-thirds needed for approval because the measure had been offered under expedited rules imposed by the Democrats to avoid GOP attempts to attach a provision enabling offshore drilling.
President Signs Housing Bill
President Bush signed
a housing bill yesterday intended to rescue about 15 percent of the cash- strapped homeowners at risk of foreclosure in the next year or so.
Early in the morning
in the Oval Office and out of public view, the president signed a measure he once threatened to veto.
It is seen as
the most significant housing bill in decades. It won approval from lawmakers eager in an election year to come up with an answer to the housing crisis.
The measure includes
$300 billion in new loan authority for the government to back cheaper mortgages for troubled homeowners;
$3.9 billion for communities to fix up foreclosed properties causing blight; and
$15 billion in tax cuts, including an expanded low-income housing
tax credit.
The number
of homeowners who could lose their homes to foreclosure by the end of 2009 is estimated by some to be 2.8 million. Under the legislation, 400,000 homeowners having trouble with payments could trade in their current loans for new, more affordable mortgages through the Federal Housing Administration.
- The Associated Press
