Senate Rejects Subsidies to Big Wind, Pickens Payout Plan
The Senate passed its version of the highway bill, S. 1813, this week on a 74 to 22 vote. Following votes on amendments last week, several more energy-related amendments were defeated on Tuesday, March 13, before the final vote. The vote tallies on these amendments, which were not germane to the underlying legislation and so required 60 (out of 100) votes to pass, were nonetheless quite interesting.
Senator Debbie Stabenow’s (D-Mich.) amendment to extend a number of tax subsidies for renewable energy, including the wind production tax credit, was defeated 49 to 49. Forty-nine Democrats voted yes. Forty-five Republicans and four Democrats—Joe Manchin (D-WV), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and James Webb (D-Va.)— voted no. Two Republicans missed all three votes. This is an encouraging result, but is by no means the end of the massive effort by the wind industry to get their subsidy extended beyond December 31st, as I detail in the item below.
Senator Jim DeMint’s (R-SC)amendment to end all tax subsidies for conventional and renewable energy and for energy efficiency then failed on a 26 to 72 vote. The twenty-six Republicans voting to go cold turkey on their subsidy addiction were Ayotte (NH), Blunt (Mo.), Burr (NC), Chambliss (Ga.), Coats (Ind.), Coburn (Okla.), Corker (Tenn.), Crapo (Id.), DeMint (SC), Graham (SC), Inhofe (Okla.), Johanns (Neb.), Johnson (Wisc.), Kyl (Az.), Lee (Ut.), McCain (Az.), McConnell (Ky.), Paul (Ky.), Portman (Ohio), Risch (Id.), Rubio (Fla.), Sessions (Ala.), Shelby (Ala.), Toomey (Penna.), Vitter (La.), and Wicker (Miss.).
Getting twenty-six votes to end all energy subsidies is quite a stunning result, but it’s not quite as impressive as it looks. Senators Richard Burr (R-NC), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) turned around and voted to create several new tax subsidies for heavy-duty trucks fueled by natural gas.
The vote on the amendment offered by Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Burr was 51 to 47 (with 60 votes required for passage). Besides the three inconsistent Republicans, three other Republicans voted for the Pickens Payoff Plan, which is also known as the NAT GAS Act. They were Senators Collins (R-Me.), Isakson (R-Ga.), and Snowe (R-Me.). Thirty-nine Republicans and eight Democrats—Harkin (D-Ia.), Leahy (D-Vt.), Levin (D-Mich.), Nelson (D-Neb.), Pryor (D-Ark.), Sanders (Socialist-Vt.), Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Webb (D-Va.)—voted against the amendment.
I have been calling the NAT GAS Act, whose chief promoter is billionaire T. Boone Pickens, the Pickens Payoff Plan or the Pickens Your Pocket Plan since last spring. One of my CEI colleagues calls it the Billionaires’ Bailout. Any doubts that these pejorative characterizations are justified have been laid to rest this week by an article by Ryan Grim and Michael McAuliff in the Huffington Post.