US Senate kills move to attach energy bill to Internet tax bill

Washington (Platts)--29Apr2004

The US Senate Thursday killed a back-door attempt to pass the energy bill as
an amendment to Internet tax legislation. Sen. Pete Domenici, the Republican
chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, on Wednesday moved to attach his
scaled-down energy bill to the unrelated legislation. But the attempt was
thwarted Thursday when Domenici and his allies fell five votes short of
limiting debate on the measure. The vote was 55-43 in favor of limiting
debate, but 60 votes, a three-fifth majority of the chamber, were required to
"invoke cloture." Domenici's amendment was essentially his version of the
energy bill, minus a $14-bil energy tax package, which the Senate is expected
to vote on next week as part of the Corporate Tax bill. Domenici attempted to
attach the energy bill to the Internet bill because the energy legislation has
stalled in the Senate, despite record high gasoline prices and strong natural
gas prices.

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