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Heading toward a collision with the House and White House, the Senate sought Thursday to put an environmentally friendly stamp on its energy legislation as lawmakers and President Bush struggle to agree on an elusive national power policy. In an effort to strengthen their hand in looming negotiations with the House, senators voted 52 to 48 to require power companies to use more renewable fuels like wind and solar power to generate electricity. At the same time, the Finance Committee approved a $14 billion tax incentive package that rewards alternative fuels and energy efficiency. "Renewable energy will power our homes...

Next Senate meeting: Thursday, June 16, 2005 9:30 a.m.: Resume consideration of H.R. 6, the Energy bill. Frist to force filibuster-ending vote Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said yesterday he will force another vote to end a filibuster of President Bush's pick to be ambassador to the United Nations at the end of this week....No votes on Fri so the showdown must be today.. [Barf alert] 02:30 PM EDT (C-span3) Forum Downing Street Minutes and Pre-War Intelligence U.S. House of Representatives, Conyers, J. (D-MI)

WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush stepped up pressure Wednesday on Congress to pass his energy plan, saying Americans no longer will tolerate high gasoline prices and inactivity from lawmakers. The president conceded that his energy plan would do nothing to reduce gasoline prices immediately; any benefits would come later. But he said Congress must act now or face public wrath. ... Bush's plan calls for subsidies and tax breaks to increase America's oil-production and refining capabilities, to increase reliance on alternative energy sources such as renewable ethanol and biodiesel and to expand the nation's nuclear power-plant capacity.

WASHINGTON - A package of energy tax breaks proposed in the Senate would give up to $2,400 to buyers of hybrid motor vehicles, subsidize the purchase of more efficient appliances and help pay for the development of clean coal technologies. The $16 billion in tax incentives is double what was proposed in the House and would commit about $6 billion over 10 years to energy efficiency, conservation and promotion of alternative fuels. The House agreed to about $8 billion, with less than $500 million for efficiency and conservation, in the energy bill it passed in April. The Senate Finance Committee...

Sen. Cantwell (D-WA)just did an interview on CNN regarding her amendement to the Energy Bill. During the interview, she said we need to buy less oil from Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, in 2001, Bush renewed the Iran-Libya Sanctions act that forbids "trade and investment with Iran." FREEP DRUDGE PLEASE! And WE are supposed to be the lying liars? Sheesh.

President Bush and Russian President Putin discussed reform of the U.N. Security Council in a phone call initiated by Putin. The conversation came amid intrigue over a push by Japan, German, India and Brazil to become permanent members of the Security Council. [Will John Bolton be the USA's final ambassador to the UN?] The president continued urging Congress to pass an energy bill, while speaking about energy efficiency at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington. A Senate committee voted to back President Bush's pick to head the Food and Drug Administration, acting FDA commissioner Lester Crawford,...

WASHINGTON - Despite opposition from the White House, a growing number of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate want to address global warming, including limits on heat-trapping emissions, as part of the country's broad energy policy. The Senate is schedule to take up energy legislation next week and hopes to finish it this month. Whether to include a measure on climate change will be sharply debated. The House rebuffed any attempt to address global warming when it passed its energy bill in April. If the Senate moves ahead with a climate provision it would create yet another major confrontation when...

WASHINGTON Apr 27, 2005 — President Bush is offering to make closed military bases available for new oil refineries and will ask Congress to provide a "risk insurance" to the nuclear industry against regulatory delays to spur construction of new nuclear power plants, senior administration officials said Tuesday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president will outline his proposals in a speech Wednesday in which he intends to emphasize how new technologies can be used to ease the energy supply crunch. The White House acknowledged that none of the initiatives was expected to provide any short-term...

Poll: Should President Bush's Energy Bill be passed as it is currently written? Scroll Down the Bellsouth Webpage, You will see it in the Middle of the page.

WASHINGTON - The House passed a comprehensive energy bill Thursday that included a provision to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and protected manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE from lawsuits. The energy bill, approved 249-183, is the fifth version in four years to pass the House and marks the third time the House has approved a bill permitting drilling in the Alaska coastal plain. The MTBE lawsuit protection provision was one of the main reasons the energy legislation failed last year. Throughout the two-day debate, the biggest battle was over the provision that would shield the...

Saturday, April 23, 2005 - Cranky schoolchildren, electronic chaos and increased sales of double espressos -- those are just some of the effects that would ripple through Americans' lives under a plan moving through Congress to extend daylight-saving time by two months a year. Under the plan that was approved by the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate, California and other states would "spring forward" in March rather than April and "fall back" in November rather than October. "It's gonna be chaos, man," said Viken Fermanian, owner of Salco Services, an electronics repair shop in Granada Hills, predicting...

President Bush said yesterday that his national energy policy would not lower gasoline prices anytime soon, but called on Congress to pass it by August to begin weaning the nation from imported oil and transitioning to alternative sources of power and fuel. "I wish I could simply wave a magic wand and lower gas prices tomorrow," Bush told the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "But we must act now to address the fundamental problem. Our supply of energy is not growing fast enough to meet the demands of our growing economy." The average retail gasoline price hit a record $2.28...

WASHINGTON - The House is set to approve an energy bill that would open an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling and provide billions of dollars in benefits to energy industries, but critics say it does little to reduce the nation's thirst for oil. The legislation, expected to be voted on by the House on Thursday, is certain to produce a confrontation with the Senate over protection of the Alaska refuge and over a provision in the bill that would help makers of a water-polluting gasoline additive deflect environmental lawsuits. By a vote of 231-200, the House late Wednesday rejected...

With Americans facing increasingly higher prices at the gas pump, it is more crucial than ever that we take steps to diversify our energy sources and curb our dependence on foreign oil. The House of Representatives this week will take up an energy bill that will go a long way toward giving our nation the sound, comprehensive energy policy that our citizens need and deserve. Unfortunately, opponents are doing their best to obstruct America's prosperity. The House has passed energy legislation three times. Each time it has been blocked for political sportsmanship. Meanwhile, Americans are finding it more and more...

WASHINGTON - President Bush prodded Congress on Saturday to pass a long-stalled national energy strategy, saying American families and small businesses are feeling the pinch from rising gasoline prices. "If you're trying to meet a family budget or a payroll, even a small change at the pump can have a big impact," Bush said in his weekly radio address. Bush is using concern over the recent spike in fuel prices to pressure lawmakers into passing an energy bill set for a vote next week. Although the House bill is focused in the long term on diversifying the nation's energy supply...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryApril 16, 2005 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. American families and small businesses across the country are feeling the pinch from rising gas prices. If you're trying to meet a family budget or a payroll, even a small change at the pump can have a big impact. America's prosperity depends on reliable, affordable and secure sources of energy. And today our energy needs are growing faster than our domestic sources are able to provide. Demand for electricity has grown more than 17 percent in the past decade, while our transmission...

WASHINGTON - House Republicans made clear their support late Tuesday for reinforcing the federal government's final authority over the siting of liquefied natural gas import terminals, even if states or local communities object. An attempt by Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., to remove the provision from proposed energy legislation failed 35-18 in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Supporters of the bill said the authority of federal regulators over LNG terminals needed to be clarified as the demand for LNG imports increases in coming years. The panel was expected to finish work on its portion of a massive energy bill on...

If Congress passes an energy bill, Americans may see more daylight-saving time. Lawmakers crafting energy legislation approved an amendment Wednesday to extend daylight-saving time by two months, having it start on the first Sunday in March and end on the last Sunday in November.

Under the bright lights of his nominating convention in 1980, Ronald Reagan told the country, "America must get to work producing more energy. The Republican program for solving economic problems is based on growth and productivity ... the [Carter] administration seems to believe the American people would rather see more regulation, taxes and controls than more energy." On that platform, Ronald Reagan was elected president, whipped the energy crisis, and ended the oil shocks and shortages that plagued America in the 1970s. Twenty-five years later, we have substantially reformed America's energy policy, but there's still much to be done. President...

Farmers Urge Energy Bill Approval During Visits to Capitol Hill Rural America Cannot Wait Any Longer WASHINGTON – March 14, 2005 -- A top energy regulator today called on Congress to pass electric reliability legislation this year. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) member Joseph T. Kelliher told family farmers that in the wake of the 2003 electricity blackout and continuing strains on the electric grid, failure to pass a bill will mean Congress must accept much of the responsibility if widespread blackouts happen in the future. So far, attempts to pass stand-alone reliability legislation have been unsuccessful and while electric...