Senate Dems’ ‘win the future’ plan stuffed with energy proposals

Senate Democratic leaders are calling for extended tax credits for manufacturing “clean-energy” components and wider financing for low-carbon energy projects as part of a broader agenda to boost U.S. economic competitiveness.

Democrats, picking up on President Obama’s State of the Union theme, rolled out a plan Wednesday to “win the future” that combines various tax credit, infrastructure and education initiatives, along with a five-year spending freeze.

Energy items in the proposal include a “Clean Energy Deployment Administration” — also known as a “green bank” — that would offer various financing tools to help shepherd advanced energy technologies into commercialization. Various iterations of the idea have surfaced in House and Senate energy bills in recent years but have not become law.

Other components of the plan include extending tax credits that were in the stimulus law for manufacturing “clean energy” equipment such as wind turbines and solar panels; further extending a grant program for constructing renewable electricity projects in the U.S.; various energy-efficiency measures; and continued spending on development of a “smart” power grid, among other provisions.

“Senate Democrats will seek to create high-paying jobs by promoting energy-efficient renovations in a variety of buildings, including single-family residences, multi-family residences, commercial buildings and buildings in rural communities,” the plan states. “Through a mix of rebates, low-interest loans and tax incentives for energy renovations, Democrats hope to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in hard-hit construction and manufacturing sectors while saving consumers, businesses and commercial building owners money on their energy bills.”