Overtime talks yield limited accord on energy extenders
Overnight tax negotiations have yielded an agreement to extend a number of expired energy tax credits through the end of the next year after talks over a broader clean energy package collapsed.
The extenders package, which will hitch a ride on one of the two minibus spending bills to be voted on this week, would revive and extend expired incentives for efficiency, alternative vehicles and biofuels through 2020, with the credits made retroactive to cover 2018 and 2019.
The biodiesel tax credit — a top priority of Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) — would be extended through 2022 under the deal, which was sealed following a late night meeting between Hill negotiators and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The renewable production tax credit, currently scheduled to phase out at the end of 2019, will be extended for one year under the agreement.
But the deal is silent on other top Democratic priorities in the year-end talks, including expansions of the electric vehicle credit and an extension of the investment tax credit for solar.