Mo. senators Bond, McCaskill slam energy bill

WASHINGTON -- Both of Missouri's senators criticized the energy bill approved in the Senate late Thursday, warning it could force shutdowns and cost jobs at auto plants in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas.

Sen. Kit Bond, a Republican, singled out the bill's mandate for an average fuel efficiency of 35 miles per gallon for new cars, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles by 2020.

"Even with lipstick on this guillotine, the mark this bill leaves will be bad," Bond said Friday. "They want to put politically driven standards in that are absolutely devastating, particularly to truck production in Missouri and for working men and women throughout the nation who rely on their personal trucks to do their business."

Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill's office said she was equally disappointed.

"This is something that ultimately is going to be a huge cost to the automotive industry and will result in a loss of Missouri manufacturing jobs," McCaskill spokeswoman Adrienne Marsh said.

The last-minute compromise over fuel efficiency threatened to derail the entire bill. Shortly before midnight, senators voted 62-32 to cut off debate and then passed the measure 65-27. The bill now awaits action by the House, which is expected to take it up next week.

McCaskill was one of just four Democrats who voted against the bill, while Bond did not vote on final passage. Spokeswoman Shana Marchio said Bond voted earlier in the day against ending debate on the fuel economy provision. After that failed, final passage of the bill was not in doubt.

Marsh said McCaskill was especially upset that the bill did nothing to repeal billions of dollars in tax breaks for the oil industry. Earlier Thursday, Republicans blocked one of the Democrats' top priorities, a $32 billion tax package for renewable fuels and other clean energy alternatives to be paid for with $29 billion in additional taxes on oil companies.

Bond claims the bill does nothing to help bring gas prices down, such as fund new refineries to make gasoline or expand oil and gas drilling off the U.S. coast.

"If energy independence is truly a priority, than we must increase domestic supply, period," Bond said.

But Democratic leaders touted the bill as an important step toward reducing reliance on foreign oil. The measure requires automakers to make half of their vehicles capable of running on 85 percent ethanol fuel or biodiesel fuels by 2015.

The bill also mandates production of 36 billion gallons a year of ethanol, as a substitute for gasoline, by 2022. The sevenfold increase over production in 2006 is viewed as a major boon to farm states and the ethanol industry.