Senate Passes Energy Tax Credit Extensions (Without Funding Offsets)

Breaking news! (Actually, I should have posted on this a few days ago, but let’s pretend I’m not posting this a few days late.) Reuters reports:

The U.S. Senate voted…to include in a housing rescue bill an extension of tax incentives that encourage renewable energy production and investments to reduce energy use.

The Ensign-Cantwell amendment passed overwhelmingly 88-8, mainly because it didn’t specify where the money for the tax credit extensions will come from. Earth2Tech has more:

Now, before you get too drunk off of the legislative lager, this doesn’t mean the ITC and PTC have all green lights. The bill will now have to head back to the House where Democrats will likely, and rightfully, question where the money for these extensions is going to come from. [...]

So, while this is certainly not the final chapter in the ITC/PTC renewal saga, it does show that there is good will on both sides of the aisle for this issue. Now the two sides just need to figure out how to fund it.

Tags: tax credits