Senator Baucus' Tax Package Rejected by Senate

Senator Max Baucus also introduced his own amendment during the Energy Bill debate, which advanced with bipartisan support out of the Senate Finance Committee, which he chairs, but was eventually voted down in the Senate. 

As reported by the Great Falls Tribune on June 20th, 2007, Baucus’s amendment would have approved a $28.5 billion clean energy tax incentive package to provide new tax incentives for installing residential wind generators and for buying plug-in hybrid vehicles.  It also would have extended existing tax incentives for manufacturers of coal-to-liquid fuel, ethanol and biodiesel, for those who generate electricity from renewable sources.  Additionally, appliance manufactures would have received tax credits for building more energy efficient dishwashers, refrigerators, and washing machines. 

Senator Baucus issued the following comment on the passage of H.R. 6 - and the failure to pass his package of tax incentives promoting renewable and alternative energies – on the Senate Finance Committee website:

“This energy bill makes a good start on moving America away from our dependence on foreign oil, and toward energy sources that our children and their children can rely on far into the future.  A sensible, targeted package of tax incentives for renewable energy would have made this bill much stronger, and served the America people better.  I voted yes tonight on the energy bill, but the job is only partway done.  The full Senate must work together on energy tax incentives that will encourage the development and use of renewable and alternative energy, and invest in a more secure energy supply for American generations to come.”   (June 21st, 2007 http://finance.senate.gov)

Regarding the narrow vote rejecting his amendment, Baucus stated:

"The Senate’s very close vote on energy tax incentives today left the American people on the losing end. I’m disappointed that a sufficient number of my colleagues could not see their way to supporting energy policies that can start freeing our country from foreign oil. I’m disappointed that some chose to keep the business-as-usual energy policy that has given us three-dollar-a-gallon gasoline and
a warming climate as well."