House - January 18, 2007
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Categories: 110th Congress | United States Congress | United States House of Representatives
| House - January 18, 2007 - week 3 | |
|---|---|
| 110th - United States Congress | |
| |
| Speaker of the House | Nancy Pelosi |
| Majority Leader | Steny Hoyer |
| Minority Leader | Mitch McConnell |
| Previous | January 17, 2007 |
| Next | January 19, 2007 |
This is the daily summary of the actions in United States House of Representatives in the 110th United States Congress for January 18, 2007 during week 3 of this Congress' term. For a summary of the actions in the Senate click here, and for Congress as a whole on this date, click here.
Contents |
House Daily Summary
Today was the last day of consideration for the Democrats’ six signature policy proposals. Over the weekend, we will break down how each 100 Hours bill went and how it will be reviewed in the Senate and beyond. Check back for that. The House began its business at 10 A.M. and did not adjourn until the end of the day’s legislative business. Most of the day was taken up during the debate on the rule, motions and passage of H.R. 6. Everything the House did is covered below. ______
CLEAN Energy Act of 2007 (H.R. 6) Passes 264-163 (Roll Call No. 40) | Text of H.R. 6
Path to Action
H.R. 6 was introduced by Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) on January 12, 2007. It was submitted with 198 co-sponsors. Pursuant to the rules laid out in Title IV of H.Res. 6, the bill leapfrogged the committee process and moved right to the House floor. A three-hour debate session began at 12:48 P.M. on January 18, 2007. A final vote was called for at 4:58 P.M., but was interrupted by a motion to table the bill and recommit it to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce with instructions to hold public hearings. That motion failed by a vote of 194 in favor to 232 against. Following the result of the motion to recommit, a final vote was held. H.R. 6 passed the House by a vote of 264 in favor to 163 against.
Legislative Analysis
H.R. 6 contains several provisions which help Democrats reach their goal of repealing special tax breaks afforded to gas and oil companies during the Republican majorities of 2000-2006.
Title I of H.R. 6 subtracts consideration of domestic production of oil and gas from the gross domestic income of the United States and increases the schedule at which oil and gas companies that rely on government assistance (logistically and financially) can receive profits from U.S. bonds from five to seven years.
Title II of H.R. 6 enacts the Royalty Relief for American Consumers Act of 2007 requires that the Secretary of Energy amend leases with oil and gas companies to incorporate the suspension of royalty increases. Boiled down, this makes it so that contracts in the Central and Western part of the Gulf of Mexico will also be subject to the new tax rates. It also allows the Secretary of Energy to continue to suspend royalties based upon the price of production of oil and gas off the Outer Continental Shelf of Florida, but puts heavy restrictions on new contracts for the production of oil in the Gulf. In line with that, it also establishes fees that companies must pay unless they meet a certain standard of conservation of resources. Read it more clearly as: if you pollute the water around where you pump for oil, you will be taxed heavily. If the price of gas spikes without proper warranting, you will be taxed heavily. Most of the conditions are to be set by the Secretary of Energy within 60 days.
Also, the legislation sets out to correct so-called “botched agreements” which the Bush Administration has been unwilling to pursue.
Section 205 of Title II gets into repealing tax breaks for oil companies: (1) specified incentives for natural gas production from deep wells in shallow waters of the Gulf; (2) royalty relief for deep water production in the Gulf; and (3) the prohibition on cost recovery fees for drilling-related permit application during the Federal Permit Streamlining Pilot Project.
The Planning Areas where the Bush Administration had hoped it would eventually be able to drill for oil in Alaska. This means, simply, that this legislation will make it cost-prohibitive to begin building oil pipelines in ANWR.
The final section of the bill establishes the Strategic Energy Efficiency and Renewables Reserve. All tax money recovered from this bill will be automatically directed to this office, where it would use the funds to develop alternative energy sources. The Secretary of Energy will have the jurisdiction on the operations of the office.
Political Analysis
The bill is not opposed by the Bush Administration rather, in fact, some of the provisions which cut tax breaks for oil companies are supported by the White House. But the new lease conditions for oil and gas production in the Gulf are opposed by the Administration. Expect that the Senate will shave those down a bit before this bill becomes law. Otherwise, it remains to be seen how much the bill will be changed before it becomes public law.
Other Actions
H.Res. 62 is a resolution congratulating the Grand Valley State University Lakers for winning the 2006 NCAA Division II Football National Championship. It passed the House by a vote of 422-0.
On the Floor
The above link is to the consolidated congressional record of what occured on the floor of the House on this date.
- NOTE: This area's structure and format are still in development.
- This note should be removed when content is added, by removing the {{House Daily Floor-NO CONTENT}} code from the article this message appears within.
In the Committees
The above link is to the consolidated congressional record of what occured in any House committees that had activity on this date.
- Note: This area's structure and format are still in development. The above header text will become a link to a culled and consolidated portions congressional record of the committees of the House that had activity on the date this page is about. This blurb here will also eventually have a format on how to link to the relevant committee articles in the Congressional Committees Project. I envision that the portions of the congressional record that will be at this link (formated similar to the floor portions of the record would be a also utilized (and with luck, maintained by those signing up for the various committees by that project.
- This note should be removed when content is added, by removing the {{House Daily Committees-NO CONTENT}} code from the article this message appears within.
Resources
See also
References
- Jan. 5, 2007 Update - U.S. House Digest blog
- Legislative Day of January 5, 2007 110TH Congress - First Session - Office of the Clerk
External Links
- The United States House of Representatives - Offical Gov. Site
- Recent bills introduced in Congress - THOMAS
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