Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, released a discussion draft of energy tax reform on Dec. 18. This is the second discussion draft of elements of a comprehensive tax reform bill that could be put before Congress next year released by the chairman to date. Summary of the energy discussion draft can be found here; coverage here. There will be much analysis of this draft over the coming weeks.

AEE issued the following statement yesterday:

It was also reported that Sen. Baucus would be nominated by President Obama to become the next U.S. ambassador to China. The schedule for nomination and confirmation (by his U.S. Senate colleagues) is unclear, as is the impact of Baucus’s departure from the tax-writing committee on the tax reform dialogue.

The day before, members of both the House and Senate penned letters urging their respective tax-writing committees to extend tax credits for advanced energy investments affecting power generation, energy efficiency, and manufacturing.  The letters voiced support for broader efforts under way in the committees to overhaul significant portions of the tax code, but cautioned that letting existing tax credits expire before replacing them with new provisions would deprive advanced energy companies and their projects of the certainty they need for investment and growth. AEE drew attention to the expiring tax credits here.

Get the most up-to-date policy news that affects our industry in your inbox every Friday. Click below to sign up.