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Bush tries to break energy bill logjamLegislation would modernize nation's power grid
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Bush pushed Wednesday to revive his key priority of a sweeping energy bill, as it faced a risk of collapse amid Republican infighting over tax breaks for ethanol producers. The legislation would mark the first overhaul of U.S. energy policy in a decade. It would offer some $16 billion in incentives to build new nuclear power plants, encourage oil and gas drilling and develop alternative energy sources. It would also modernize the U.S. power grid, a provision that helped give the bill momentum after the East Coast power outage in August that left 50 million people in the dark. Bush dispatched Vice President Dick Cheney to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to try to settle a feud between House and Senate Republicans over ethanol tax credits. Bush himself prodded both Republican and Democratic leaders to pass the bill when he met with them at the White House to discuss various legislation. The president will also seek to put a public spotlight on the issue with a visit Thursday to an Ohio aluminum plant, where he will deliver a speech about energy policy. Democrats have been shut out of the bill-writing process. Many environmental groups oppose the measure, saying it is laden with subsidies that favor the oil, coal and nuclear energy industries and lacks enough incentives for energy conservation and use of alternative energy sources. "I think the president can certainly be persuasive with members of his own party," said Betsy Loyless, vice president of the League of Conservation Voters. But she said that even with Bush's personal involvement, the legislation may still fail. If the impasse between Republicans is broken, Loyless said it is possible that Democrats could move to filibuster it in the Senate. "Our expectation is that this bill will blow apart," Loyless said. Industry groups, however, say Bush's efforts will clinch a deal. "Historically, the president has the bully pulpit," said Jim Owen, spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute, an industry trade group. "The president can use his prestige and authority to bring the warring factions together." Republican infightingThe most pressing hurdle for Bush right now is mediating a fight between Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Bill Thomas, head of the House of Representative Ways and Means Committee. Both are Republicans. Grassley has insisted that the energy bill continue to include a 5.2 cent per gallon excise tax exemption for ethanol, a fuel that is distilled from corn and is an income booster for American farmers as well as a clean-burning additive to stretch gasoline supplies. His plan would have the government pay about $2 billion annually into the federal highway fund to make up the ethanol tax losses. But Thomas wants to defer work on ethanol subsidy changes until Congress writes a transportation bill next year. Lawmakers are racing against the legislative clock to finish the energy bill. Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist said Congress is looking at a November 14 adjournment date. Bush's new efforts on behalf of the energy bill came after Grassley and energy industry officials urged him to get more involved. The bill's manager, Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, said Cheney was meeting with key lawmakers. "The veep is up here working on it -- that's all I know," Domenici told Reuters. A congressional aide said Cheney's visits to Capitol Hill would aim at trying to find an "innovative solution" on the ethanol issue, but offered no details. Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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