Reuters reported on September 24th that solar stocks rallied on news of the US Senate passing a bill to continue tax credits for renewable energy sources.
On September 23, the US Senate passed H.R. 6049 Renewable Energy and Job Creation Tax Act of 2008, which would give tax incentives for businesses in “clean energy.” The bill will now go for a vote in the House of Representatives.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned the House not to change the bill. Senator Reid stated, “I say to my friends on the other side of the Capitol, in the House: Don’t send us back something else. We cannot get it passed. If they try to mess with our package, it will come back here, it will die, and we will have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”
According to Congressman Charles Rangel, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, the House will not be passing the bill in the same form that the Senate passed. Congressman Rangel stated, “…their bill would add billions to the national deficit at a time when we can hardly afford it.” Rangel stated that the House would be modifying the bill and then sending it back to the Senate.
If what Senator Reid said is true, it looks as though the renewable energy tax incentives “will die.”
To read the Reuters article, click here.
To read Harry Reid’s statement in the Congressional Record, click here.
To read Congressman Rangel’s statement, click here.