Senate Republicans block energy bill

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republicans blocked a broad energy bill Thursday because it included billions of dollars in new taxes on the biggest oil companies.


Supporters say the bill would move the country away from gas-guzzling cars and toward nonfossil fuels.

1 of 2 Democratic leaders fell one vote short, 59-40, in getting the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster. Democrats said they would strip the taxes from the legislation to move the bill forward.

Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he hoped to get the revised energy package approved later in the day, including the first increase in automobile fuel efficiency in three decades and massive increases in the use of ethanol as a motor fuel.

He said we will "eliminate the tax title."

Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky predicted the revised bill would be approved with wide bipartisan support.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/13/congress.energy.ap/index.html