House Passes Stimulus Bill, Senate Debate Continues

The House passed the  American Recovery and Investment Plan  (H.R. 1) on Wednesday evening 244-188.   The bill contained $37.8 billion for energy efficiency and $27.8 billion for renewable energy, which is a great first step towards building a clean energy economy for America.  And while the bill gave a disproportionate amount of the transportation funding to new road construction, environmental groups praised lawmakers for adding an amendment, sponsored by Representatives Nadler (D-NY), DeFazio (D-OR), Lipinski (D-IL), McMahon (D-NY), and Ellison (D-WI), that added an additional $3 billion for mass transportation bringing the total for clean transportation to over $14 billion.   

The Senate has gone to work on their version of the  American Investment and Recovery Plan, S. 336, a plan which totals $887 billion in spending.   The Senate Finance Committee passed a $522 billion tax package that includes  $31 billion  in tax incentives for efficiency and renewable energy and the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a $365 billion recovery package that included over $75 billion in clean energy spending.  However, these good energy investments are marred by the inclusion of $50 billion dollars in additional loan guarantees seemingly slated for nuclear power and liquid coal technologies, though it is possible some of this funding could go toward renewable energy.

The Senate will continue debate on its recovery bill today. The earliest it will come to a floor vote is at the end of the week.