![]() Bush has a lot of pro forma presidenting to do, like photo ops with families of war heroes and hurricane victims. We also have pro forma senators, five of them - Dodd, Clinton, Obama, Biden and McCain - too busy running for president to do much in the Senate beyond rushing home for important votes. And that was a water projects bill with too much money for too many communities to be stopped. Only one Bush veto has been successfully overridden. The veto remains a powerful weapon of pro forma government. As expected, it was blocked by a filibuster in the Senate, sparing the president the need to veto it. The House passed a bill, but with the latest of many efforts to include bring-home-the-troops language. So the government mince along on what are called continuing resolutions, which permits spending at the same rate as last year, also, for outdated programs.Ī $50 billion emergency appropriation to sustain the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also ran into the pro forma syndrome. ![]() ![]() So it is that for the fiscal year that started on October 1st, Congress has so far passed only one of the regular appropriations needed to fund the government. You might call it a pro forma government when Congress can't get around to fulfilling its primary constitutional duty of voting the money necessary to run the government. I am reminded of my days reporting from the Soviet Union, where people said, they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work. It strikes me that a lot of government has become pro forma. That is to ensure that President Bush won't sneak in some recess appointments, which he can only do when Congress is not in session. The Senate remains on what is called a pro forma session, with a couple of members showing up briefly twice a week but not doing anything. Here's NPR's senior news analyst Daniel Schorr.ĭANIEL SCHORR: Congress is home for the holidays. Tomorrow's schedule for the Senate floor says 9 a.m. But that doesn't mean there's nothing official going on. And the House Web site says: no House schedule found for this week. The wire service daybook reads: no scheduled events. And indeed, there is little news to report today from Capitol Hill. The Renewable Electricity Tax Credit Equalization Act could play an important role in supporting efforts across the country to reach deep decarbonization goals-reducing greenhouse gas emissions to decrease the future impacts of climate change.It is Thanksgiving week, and Congress traditionally takes a recess at this time. Peters highlights the importance of creating fair tax policies across the renewable energy sector, stating “as climate change continues to threaten our planet, health, and communities, we need to invest in innovative technology that can provide baseload supply of energy.” Baseload renewable power-which consistently provides power 24/7-is crucial for moving away from fossil fuels (i.e., coal, oil, and natural gas) which have traditionally served this function. As described in a recent article from EESI in The Solar Tribune, “ensuring tax parity for these energy sources would increase private investment to develop and deploy these technologies, providing more renewable options to meet the country’s overall energy demand.” 4186) which would “amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the credit for electricity produced from certain renewable resources and the investment credit for certain qualified investment credit facilities.”Īccording to a joint press release from the American Biogas Council, Biomass Power Association, Energy Recovery Council, and the National Hydropower Association, this bill “renews and extends a tax credit which has been expired since 2017.” This tax credit would benefit renewable industries, including biomass, biogas, geothermal, hydropower, and marine energy, which have historically received less federal attention than wind and solar counterparts in tax codes. In particular, renewable energy that provides baseload power (i.e., 24/7 renewable electricity)-including biomass, hydropower, geothermal, and biogas-should be a critical part of a low-carbon energy portfolio.ĭuring an August pro forma session, Representatives Elise Stefanik of New York and Scott Peters of California introduced the Renewable Electricity Tax Credit Equalization Act (H.R. To decarbonize the economy, the United States needs to employ a suite of renewable energy technologies beyond wind and solar power. Environment & Energy Congressional Round-Up.House and Senate Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Caucuses.Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO.National Security and Energy Independence.
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