The latest Senate gambit to pass a major piece of the energy bill failed yesterday when the Senate fell 11 votes short on a cloture motion that would have allowed final debate and a vote on passage of the corporate tax bill, to which the $13 billion energy tax package has been attached. The 49-48 vote was on the question of limiting debate on S. 1637, the corporate tax bill. It was the first energy-related vote since the Senate rejected the energy bill in its H.R. 6 incarnation last November.
But it will not be the last time the energy bill comes up for a vote. The combined corporate tax/energy tax bill is likely to come up for another cloture vote after the Senate returns from its recess on April 20, by which time negotiators are expected to have reached some agreement on how many Democratic amendments to include in the final debate.
Indeed, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) said yesterday he fully expects there to be as many as two more cloture votes on the matter to get the bill past the Senate.
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