Republicans Kill Section 1603 Renewable Energy Cash Grants

December 4th, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

As part of pushing for tax cuts for the rich, today Republicans filibustered (would not allow an up or down vote on) the Baucus Amendment that would have extended the deadline for solar projects to get a 30% cash grant. Previous story: Solar Cash Grant Extension to be in Saturday’s Tax Cut Vote!

Here’s some of the renewable energy tax provisions, that congress could have had a chance to vote up or down, if the GOP had not filibustered the entire bill, rather than let the Bush era tax cuts for the rich expire.

Baucus Amendment 4727: To change the end date from 2010, by extending till December 2011:

1. Section 1603 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – cash in lieu of tax credit for businesses not making a profit and unable to take the 30% tax credit

2. Tax credits for heavy hybrid and natural gas vehicles and a 30% investment tax credit for alternative fuel refueling stations.

3. Tax breaks for ethanol, 36 cents a gallon for blenders, and 8 cents a gallon for small producers. A 54 cents per gallon tariff on ethanol imports.

4. A $1-per-gallon production tax credit for biodiesel and biomass diesel and the small agri-biodiesel producer credit of 10 cents per gallon extended through 2011.

5. A 50-cent-per-gallon tax credit for biomass and other alternative fuels.

6. Tax credits for energy-efficient appliances and homes.

8. Adding $2.5 billion in funding for Section 48C the advanced energy manufacturing 30% tax credit for companies manufacturing advanced clean energy products and materials.

9. Reinstating the Research and Development tax credit.

If the entire bill had not been filibustered all Senators would get up or down votes on each of these. The vote to take votes (cloture) on the Baucus Amendment got 53 votes. It needed 60 to get over the usual Republican filibuster.

Susan Kraemer@Twitter

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Tags: 30% tax credi, progressive legislation, Section 1603

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.