2002
8 of 36 Congressional Black Caucus + JC Watts
Vote FOR Bush ENERGY Bill
Tweny-five percent (25%) of America's black Congressional representatives voted to approve HR 4, the Bush/Cheney Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE) Act. The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate. The CBC supporters included: Bishop (GA), Brown (Fla), Clyburn (SC), Hilliard (Ala), Jackson-Lee (TX), Jefferson (LA), Thompson (MS), Towns (NY) and non-CBC black Republican Watts (OK).
Four members of the CBC broke ranks to support drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the grounds that it would create thousands of jobs. The Democratic leadership, Dick Gephardt, (Missouri), minority leader and David E. Bonior (D-Mich), minority whip, joined the CBC members listed below in opposing increases in automobile fuel efficiency standards in the bill. Representatives Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, Edolphus Towns of New York, Earl F. Hilliard of Alabama and James E. Clyburn of South Carolina were among Mr. Bush's supporters for drilling and against increased car mileage standards.
To get the Full House Final Vote Results for HR
House Passes Energy Bill
By a vote of 240 to 189 approving $33.5 billion in tax breaks over 10 years for renewable energy, conservation and energy production. The 511-page bill would open up 2,000 acres (down from the 1.5 million acres in the president's energy proposal) of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas exploration. [Passed Thurs, Aug 2, 2001]
The bill includes $300 million in tax credits for energy-efficient appliances, which will pay manufacturers $50 or $100 per clothes washer or refrigerator for meeting efficiency standards. The bulk of the credits and breaks — $27 billion, go to traditional energy producers, both to drill for more oil and gas, develop nuclear energy and produce cleaner coal ($3.3 billion for clean-coal technology).
One measure helps several electric companies avoid an estimated $2 billion in taxes by allowing utilities to transfer control of their power lines to independents tax-free, if they are required to do by federal regulators. Click HERE for full text of legislation [SAFE Act of 2001, H.R.4]
Click HERE & See Legislation & Legislative Calendar
Senate Passed Energy Legislation
Voting 88-11, the Senate voted to pass an energy bill on Thursday, April 25, 2002 after weeks of debate. The legislation now moves to conference with the House of Representatives, which passed a much larger bill last year. The Senate Democratic bill focuses on conservation and excludes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The House Republican-passed bill, passed last summer, provides more tax breaks to energy production and opens the Arctic refuge to drilling.
The Senate bill provides $14 billion worth of tax breaks over 10 years, divided about evenly between help for renewable energy and conservation programs and the traditional fossil fuel energy producers. The House bill calls for $33 billion in tax incentives focused more heavily toward the oil, gas, coal and nuclear industries.
Other major provisions in the Senate legislation:
— A requirement to use 5 billion gallons of ethanol per year (a tripling of ethanol production).
— A ban on use of the gasoline additive MTBE, which has been found to contaminate groundwater.
— Consumer tax credits home solar panels, insulation, energy-efficient windows, doors, air conditioners and heat pumps.
— Federal loan guarantees to spur private interest in building a $20 billion pipeline to haul natural gas from Alaska's North Slope.
— Requiring utilities by 2019 to produce 10 percent of their electricity from renewable fuels: wind, solar and burning forest and agricultural wastes.
— Repeal of a Depression-era law that limits the operations of electricity holding companies; wider authority for federal energy regulators to regulate wholesale electricity markets and transmission lines.
The Senate killed attempts to drill for oil in the Arctic refuge and automobile fuel economy standards - - a provision that would have required automakers to improve their fleet-wide fuel efficiency to 35 miles per gallon. The bill's ethanol provision also came under attack Thursday from California and New York senators, but was rejected.
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