PTC Extension Waits for House-Senate Conference

Three weeks after the House passed the corporate tax bill (H.R. 4520) containing an extension of the wind energy production tax credit (PTC) and seven weeks after the Senate passed a similar bill (S. 1637), Congress has yet to start up the next stage of the process, called the conference committee.

In the conference committee process, select members of the House and Senate negotiate differences between competing versions of legislation to arrive at one bill that must be passed again by both houses. There is never a fixed schedule for the beginning or end of a conference committee. The first step in the process is to name conferees. At the moment, neither the House nor the Senate has yet named members to serve as conferees on the corporate tax bill.

The delay in naming conferees stems from behind-closed-door negotiations between Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders over the ground rules for how the conference will progress. All year long Democrats have complained that they have been excluded from playing a decision-making role during crucial conferences on numerous bills. Earlier this week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (RIowa) said that even if conferees were named this week, July would not offer enough time to complete conference negotiations on the bill containing the PTC extension before the summer recess (Congress begins a six-week summer break in late July and returns to work on September 7). Sen. Grassley has predicted that the bill will be completed before Congress adjourns for the November elections.

The underlying corporate tax bill to which the PTC is attached is intended to bring about the lifting of European Union trade sanctions on some U.S. products (now at 9%) by repealing a current export tax break that has been ruled a violation of World Trade Organization free trade rules. The key Senators and congressional staff have told AWEA and other energy lobbyists in Washington, D.C. that the corporate tax bill is the best and only shot at gaining energy tax credits this year.