US House approves energy bill, again, and hopes to nudge Senate

Washington (Platts)--15Jun2004

The US House of Representatives Tuesday approved the same comprehensive energy
bill and tax measure it passed last fall, a mostly symbolic move meant to spur
action in the Senate. The vote was 244-178. The $31-bil House-Senate bill is
effectively dead in the Senate, where leaders there have abandoned the
proposal in favor of a new one introduced by Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (Republican-New Mexico). The new
bill remains on hold, too, and GOP senators Tuesday said Senate leaders have
no plans now to bring the proposal up for consideration. During the House
debate, Republicans claimed they were for increasing energy supplies to meet
US demands and that Democrats were against raising production, despite high
oil, gasoline and natural gas prices. Democrats disputed that and said the
bill was a collection of "energy subsidies masquerading as energy policy."

Passage of the House bill, while seen by some as largely symbolic, could prove
important if the Senate manages to pass Domenici's legislation, as it would
give the House a vehicle with which it could negotiate with the Senate.
However, Republicans senators were not optimistic that their bill would be
debated. "We're optimistic but not optimistic enough," Domenici said at a news
conference with Republican senators Lamar Alexander, Larry Craig and Craig
Thomas. Domenici said he did not think the bill was dead, as Minority Leader
Thomas Daschle has alleged. Domenici warned that potential terrorism in a key
oil producing country, like Saudi Arabia, could drive oil prices above the
recent high of $42/barrel. "I worry that consumers are feeling a false sense
of security after the recent drop in oil and gas prices," he said. Domenici
said he and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton had not
found an alternative to language in the House-Senate bill giving makers of the
gasoline additive MTBE immunity from defective product lawsuits.

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