Max Baucus: “for 4 years, Congress has failed to enact a comprehensive Energy bill. Today, however, I am confident we can change that…”

“for 4 years, Congress has failed to enact a comprehensive Energy bill. Today, however, I am confident we can change that record. The conference committee has assembled a well-balanced package. It is right for America. We should send it to the President's desk. The House and the Senate gave the conferees a difficult task. The House and Senate Energy bills took two very different approaches to tax policy. The two bills had very little in common. Thus, we could not include everything in both bills without busting our budget. Most of the provisions in the House bill promoted investment in traditional energy infrastructure. It favored pipelines, electricity lines, and oil and gas production. In contrast, the Senate bill--which I helped develop with my good friend Senator Grassley--advanced new technologies. It encouraged conservation efforts, improved energy efficiency, and expanded use of alternative fuels. Conference negotiations were hard fought. We made some tough decisions. But overall, the process was very positive. We kept within our budget, and we worked with a spirit of compromise and cooperation. The energy tax incentives that the conference has recommended take an evenhanded approach to an array of promising technologies. For example, the bill provides a uniform period for claiming production tax credits under section 45 of the Tax Code. This encourages production of electricity from all sources of renewable energy.…”