By Debra DeHaney-Howard
May 10, 2004

In an attempt to amend the Internet Tax Bill to include energy amendments offered by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Senate Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, the Senate fell short of the necessary votes to invoke cloture and cut off debate on energy legislation. Because the procedural votes were on motions to invoke cloture, 60 votes were needed to stop debate and move the amendments forward to final passage.

The first amendment offered by Senator Daschle on April 27 failed by a vote of 40 to 59. If passed, the amendment, among other things, would have doubled the ethanol use to 5 billion gallons over a ten-year period.

The second amendment offered by Senator Domenici, in response to Senator Daschle's amendment, would have added the scaled-back energy, S. 2095, as a second-degree amendment to the Internet tax bill. The revised comprehensive energy legislation, which Senator Domenici introduced earlier this year, is without language that grants product liability protection to the producers of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), a fuel oxygenate and also the $13 billion tax package. The Senate rejected Senator Domenici's April 27 amendment by a vote of 43 to 55.