On August 8 President Bush signed into law the Energy Policy Act of 2005, comprehensive legislation which will help us meet our energy needs in the future. The Senate gave strong bi-partisan approval to the final bill in a 74-26 vote.

The most important part of this bill is that it should stabilize and begin to lower the price of natural gas. We hear a lot about the importance of gasoline prices at the pump, but the bigger problem is the high price of natural gas. This is especially important for home owners, for farmers and for blue collar workers in Tennessee and across America . Home owners are paying too much to heat and cool their homes. Farmers are taking a big pay cut because of fertilizer costs, and we have a million chemical workers in this country whose jobs will gradually move overseas if we don’t lower the price of natural gas.

The second thing this bill does is to begin to change the way we produce electricity. All of us are excited about the different ways of making electricity. I strongly supported the new solar energy provisions in the bill, and others support wind, biomass and geothermal provisions. But there’s a new realism in this bill, awareness that those renewable and exotic energies will not fuel our needs for the next generation in America . This bill focuses on the techniques that will. First, energy conservation and efficiency. Second, nuclear power. Third, coal gasification and carbon sequestration. And fourth, new supplies of natural gas.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 promotes aggressive efforts toward conservation and energy efficiency – these are the most immediate things that can be done to lower energy prices. A number of these conservation and efficiency measures will directly benefit Tennessee consumers and businesses including: measures to make many major appliances more energy efficient – thereby reducing demand and lowering the price of energy; tax credits for home energy efficiency, and for solar heating and cooling equipment;  grants to auto manufacturers to encourage domestic production of fuel efficient hybrid and advanced diesel vehicles; and tax credits to consumers for the purchase of hybrid vehicles.

In addition, it encourages advanced nuclear power plants, coal gasification power plants, clean renewable energy bonds to encourage all kinds of renewable energy and tax credits for small cogeneration, industrial gasification, trash combustion and landfill gas. These measures will help ensure that we have an adequate supply of reliable, low-cost, American-produced clean energy.

As chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy and a Senate conferee on the bill, I was proud to play a role in this strong, bi-partisan process. The completion of a clean energy bill is by far one of the most important things we have done in the 109th Congress because it affects millions of Americans. It helps us deal with global warming, helps us address clean air problems, and it helps us have enough electricity to keep Tennessee jobs in a more competitive world marketplace. 

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Interior Appropriations Bill - A House-Senate Conference Committee has approved a Fiscal Year 2006 Interior Appropriations Bill conference report that includes significant funding for Tennessee parks, forests, and conservation programs. There is nothing more central to the American character than the great American Outdoors. This bill looks ahead for generations to make sure Tennesseans have places to enjoy our outdoors – remarkable places like the Walls of Jericho on the Cumberland Plateau . I’ll continue to work with Senator Frist and the entire delegation to make sure Tennessee has the resources it needs to support our natural resources.

Uniformed Services Differential Pay Protection Act - As our reservists and guardsmen are away fighting to defend our freedom, it is our responsibility to help take care of the challenges facing them here at home. Today, a number of companies voluntarily “make up” the wages an employee loses while deployed with the Guard or Reserve by paying the difference between their military stipends and their regular salaries. However, this can result in an unexpected tax bill at the end of the year. I recently co-sponsored the Uniformed Services Differential Pay Protection Act, legislation that ensures that those companies and the deployed servicemen who are their employees are treated fairly by the tax system. The bill designates that these differential wage payments are treated as wages for income tax withholding purposes and reported on the worker’s W-2 form, thereby ensuring that active duty personnel will not be hit with end-of-the-year tax bills. It also allows employers to continue to legally contribute to the deployed serviceman’s retirement plan, like a 401(k). This bill makes the tax code clearer and fairer for our men and women in uniform and the companies that support them.

I thought you might be interested in these articles that recently ran in the Nashville City Paper and the Washington Post.

Tennessee gets increase in federal road money
http://alexander.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Articles.Detail&Article_id=59&Month=8&Year=2005

Harry Potter and Our Forgotten History

http://alexander.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Articles.Detail&Article_id=57&Month=7&Year=2005

Senator Alexander testifies before the Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight & the Courts on his Federal Consent Decree Fairness Act. Alexander introduced the legislation in March to restrain "democracy by decree" - the tendency of some federal courts to make decisions that elected state and local officials ought to be making.