Senate Derails Energy Bill - For Now

By J.R. Pegg
Environment News Service

WASHINGTON, DC, November 21, 2003 (ENS) - Senate supporters of the energy
bill suffered a setback today, as they failed to muster the 60 votes needed
to end debate and force a vote on the controversial legislation. Majority
Leader Bill Frist blasted opponents for blocking the legislation and vowed
to try again, but critics say it is time the Republican leadership admitted
defeat and abandoned the bill.

"We did the Senate a favor - this bill was going nowhere," said Senator
Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. "It really does not help the Senate to
prolong the inevitable. The inevitable is this bill is history."

Frist, who prior to the cloture vote warned colleagues that "this vote is
the vote on the energy bill," changed his vote and his tune once defeat was
acknowledged.

The Majority Leader switched his vote in order to retain the option of
another vote on the legislation.

The final tally, which was 57 to 40, fell three votes short of forcing a
final vote on the bill. Six Republicans and Independent Senator James
Jeffords of Vermont joined Democrats to defeat the motion.

Critics agree the United States needs an energy policy, but contend the
current energy bill does not contain one. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge National
Laboratory)

Thirteen Democrats sided with 44 Republicans in the attempt to end debate
and force a vote.
The vote is blow to the Bush administration, which strongly supports the
energy bill. The House passed the 1,200 energy bill earlier this week by a
vote of 246 to 180.

Supporters of the legislation admitted that the vote reflected a deep divide
over provisions concerning two gasoline additives - ethanol and methyl
tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).

The bill's mandated doubling of ethanol use attracted several Democrats from
farm states, including Minority Leader Tom Daschle, who admitted that much
of the bill was not worth supporting.

But the inclusion of a safe harbor provision protecting MTBE manufacturers
from litigation and the $24 billion in tax subsidies proved too much for
five Northeast Republican senators and Arizona Republican John McCain.

"On the whole, this just was not good for America," said Senator John
Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican. "This is an energy bill that busted the
budget."

Republicans Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Maine's Susan Collins and Olympia
Snow, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island were joined by Arizona's John
McCain in opposing the bill.

The MTBE provision was the "overriding reason for failure," Daschle said.
"If this provision was not included, this bill would be passed by the Senate
today and enacted into law."

The controversy over MTBE and the tax subsidies in the bill even prompted
some Democrats with much to gain from the ethanol mandate to oppose the
bill.

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, stressed that he is a firm
supporter of ethanol but said the energy bill is "fundamentally unfair and
unjust."

The legislation undermines environmental protections, does not address fuel
economy standards, and contains far too many giveaways to corporate
interests, said Durbin, who added that every major environmental group in
the United States opposes the bill.

"I am no babe in the woods . I have an appetite for pork like every member
in the Senate and the House," Durbin said. "But if giveaways turn out to be
a substitute for energy policy, we have defrauded the American people."

The cost of the bill proved a key factor in generating opposition within the
Senate. The bill contains some $24 billion in tax breaks - with more than
two thirds earmarked for coal, oil, gas and nuclear industries - and the
Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would cost some $30 billion
over 1o years.

"Do not call yourself a fiscal conservative and vote for this bill," McCain
told colleagues today.

McCain took in particular aim at the ethanol mandate, which doubles the use
of the corn based fuel additive to five billion gallons a year.

Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, says the energy bill will add
billions to the $500 billion annual budget deficit with little benefit to
the American public. (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator)

"Ethanol does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our
energy independence, nothing to improve our air quality," McCain said. "It
is a product that would not exist if Congress did not create an artificial
market for it."

Supporters of the bill warned farm state senators that they could ill afford
to vote against the legislation because of the ethanol mandate.

"We have worked harder for the farmers of America than anyone in history,"
said Senator Pete Domenici, a New Mexico Republican and cochair of the
conference committee that wrote the final bill. "The Democrats are leading a
parade to kill the most important provision ever thought up for the
farmers."

The ethanol provision within the energy bill "is the best thing for
renewable fuels and ethanol that we have had in front of Congress in 25
years," added Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican. "We either pass
this bill now or the good provisions in it for ethanol are lost forever."

And Daschle was not the only Democrat enticed by the ethanol mandate to
support the bill - Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and
North Dakota Senators Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan were among the 13
Democrats who voted to end debate on the bill.

Daschle blamed "manipulations by the House leadership" for inserting
controversial provisions, including the MTBE safe harbor rider, that were
not in either the House or the Senate versions of the energy bill.

The MTBE provision "trumped the Republican party's own legislative
strategy," said Daschle, who suggested that the provision be stripped from
the conference report.

An increased mandate for ethanol has tempted some Democrats from farm states
to support the energy bill.(Photo courtesy American Coalition for Ethanol)

Daschle recommended that such a revised conference report be added to a
massive omnibus spending bill set for consideration this weekend.

It is unclear where Frist and the Republican leadership go from here, as
revising the conference report would require renewed negotiations with the
House. But the Majority Leader told colleagues immediately after the vote
that "this will not be the last vote that we have on this bill."

"We will keep voting until we pass it," Frist said. "We will have at least
one more vote before we leave next week."

But Senate opponents of the bill have pledged to stand firm.

"This bill will not pass," McCain told reporters after the vote. "It will
not bear scrutiny and that is why I am convinced they will not be able to
buy the votes to get to 60."

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