The Senate handily rejected cloture Tuesday on S. 940, the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, which, shorn of political slogans, was the legislation to raise taxes on oil and gas development in the United States.

The vote was 52-48, with Democratic Sens. Mark Begich of Alaska, Mary Landrieu of Lousiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska joining Republicans to block the bill that would do nothing to address gas prices, but would discourage U.S. energy security and global competitiveness. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) was the sole Republican to vote for cloture.

Next up once the Senate convenes at 10:30 a.m. this morning, a motion to proceed on legislation sponsored by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to expand domestic oil and gas production. S. 953, the Offshore Production and Safety Act,  mirrors the bill passed by the House last week, H.R. 1299, the Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act.

Sen. McConnell summarized the bill on the Senate floor Tuesday: “Our bill would return American offshore production to where it was before this administration locked it up, require Federal bureaucrats to process permits–to make a decision one way or the other: process the permit, make a decision one way or the other–rather than sitting on the permits. And it would improve offshore safety. Our plan not only acknowledges the importance of increasing domestic production, it does something about it, while ensuring environmental safety.”

Excerpting the reaction to President Obama’s comments on energy prices and domestic energy production on Friday.

Jack Gerard, president and CEO, American Petroleum Institute, “API to White House: Long Term Solutions Require Short Term Leadership:”

Long-term problems call for short-term leadership. Suggesting that we rely on other nations to solve our energy challenges is irresponsible and will not increase our energy security. The Obama administration continues to delay or defer action on developing our domestic resources of oil and natural gas at every turn.

The trend is alarming. The administration has postponed lease sales in offshore areas. It has cancelled lease sales in onshore federal lands. It has extended permitting timelines for current leases and added unnecessary regulatory burdens. It has chosen inaction on essential energy projects that would create jobs, drive economic growth, and boost federal revenues.

The administration is well on its way toward creating higher gasoline prices for Americans.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), “Landrieu Responds to President’s News Conference on Gas Prices“:

I share President Obama’s concern about how the current crisis in Libya and the constriction of supply in the U.S. are causing gas prices to skyrocket.  Unfortunately, this administration still doesn’t seem to understand that the best way to combat rising gasoline prices is to encourage new domestic development and production of oil.  By issuing permits in the Gulf and by opening new areas for development, we can combat the geopolitical events that affect what this country pays at the pump.

The president wants his administration to account for of all the undeveloped leases held by oil and gas companies in the Gulf.  I don’t know how the president expects companies to develop leases in the Gulf when they can’t even get permits to conduct exploratory activities.  Since new regulations went into place last year after the spill, only one new exploration plan has been approved by the BOEM – only one permit in 10 months. By contrast, in March 2010, the month before the Macondo accident, 48 exploratory plans were issued.  The president can’t hold companies accountable for development of leases when they simply can’t get permits to develop them.

Politico, “Bill Clinton: Drilling delays ‘ridiculous’“:

Bush said all the things you’d expect him to say” on oil and gas issues, said Jim Noe, senior vice president at Hercules Offshore and executive director of the pro-drilling Shallow Water Energy Security Coalition. But Clinton added, “You’d be surprised to know that I agree with all that,” according to Noe and others in the room.

Clinton said there are “ridiculous delays in permitting when our economy doesn’t need it,” according to Noe and others.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, “Upton Statement in Response to President Obama’s Remarks on Energy and Gasoline Prices“: (continue reading…)

From Sen.  Mary Landrieu (D-LA), a statement reacting to the visit to Louisiana Monday by Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, “Landrieu ‘Disappointed’ with Salazar’s Lack of Specifics to Get People Back to Work in Gulf“:

I am extremely disappointed that Secretary Salazar’s presentation today failed to provide regulatory certainty and a clear path for speeding up the process of issuing drilling permits. Our industry leaders are skeptical and have every right to be. They received a commitment to the tiered permitting process, which is a start, but the Gulf Coast needs much more clarity and specificity to move forward.

The holding of Jack Lew’s nomination was just one strategy, and unfortunately that option was coming to an end. I was assured a clear path forward was imminent, and I hope it still is.  However, there are many other tools at our disposal, and our delegation will use every one to send the message that it is harmful to our economy and our national security to keep this industry in the dark and on the sidelines. We now have this administration’s attention, but the fight is not over. I will keep the pressure on President Obama, Secretary Salazar and the rest of this administration until people in the Gulf get back to work.

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) issued a statement, as well, “Says Salazar must address ‘permit logjam’“:

All of us from Louisiana hoped to hear some new policy, some permitting breakthrough, maybe a handful of new permits approved. But we heard none of that – absolutely nothing.

I told the secretary that this permit logjam had to change – this vital industry is virtually shut down. And I highlighted, along with industry representatives, the key issues that the Obama administration has to address to put people back to work.

Earlier posts.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) removed her hold, thus allowing the Senate to confirm Jacob Lew to be director of the Office of Management and Budget on Thursday. From Landrieu’s office, “Landrieu Receives Commitment from Sec. Salazar, Drops Hold of OMB Nominee Jack Lew“:

“Tonight I received a commitment from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to provide certainty and regulatory clarity to an industry that has operated in the dark for months with shifting rules. The Secretary will come to Louisiana on Monday to meet with industry and express the Administration’s support for the oil and gas industry. He will outline the path forward so that permits will be issued and the people of Louisiana can get back to work in this vital industry. Given this commitment, I released my hold, so that Jack Lew can get to work balancing the federal budget and putting this country back on a path of fiscal discipline.”

Hope she’s right.

The Senate on Wednesday told business owners to spend their money on IRS paperwork instead of hiring employees when it rejected the Johanns amendment to repeal Section 9006 of the new health care law, which requires that businesses track and report any dealings with vendors that exceed $600 by filing an IRS Form 1099.

The Senate then invoked cloture on the small business finance bill, H.R.5297, Small Business Jobs and Credit Act.

Senate Majority Leader Reid commented: “This is an important piece of legislation. It is the most significant thing we have done since the stimulus bill was passed to create jobs.”

Sen. Mary Landrieu, Chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee, said she was introducing a bill to repeal Section 9006 with different “pay fors” than proposed in the Johanns amendment.

We are going to repeal I am going to file a bill right now to take care of it. We are going to repeal
1099. We are not only going to repeal the portion that was put in by health care–which was not done intentionally, but there are sometimes unintended consequences. Anybody around here who thinks they can write perfect pieces of legislation–they cannot. When you do something wrong, you should correct it. We are going to correct it.

But in addition, my bill that I am going to file right now is going to repeal the $600 requirement that has been in the law for 62 years, and we are going to raise that threshold to $5,000, clean up the way small businesses have to report, and do something good for small business in America. …[snip]

I have heard small businesses in my State, and I know we made a mistake on this 1099 and we are going to fix it. But it does not have to be fixed this morning. It doesn’t even go into effect for a year and a half.

Goodness knows small business reporting could stand a good clean up, but with respect — uncertainty. UNCERTAINTY! Businesses considering expansion or new hiring can gain no confidence about their future costs from a Congress that may or may not take up the issue sometime in the future, possibly. The IRS reporting requirement hangs like the Sword of Damocles over small business.

Sen. Landrieu’s new bill is S. 3777, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the threshold amount subject to information reporting at source. The text is not yet available.

Take that, small business!

The Senate today defeated both amendments to change the IRS tax filing mandates included in the health care law discussed earlier here and here.

A cloture vote on the Sen. Mike Johanns’ amendment to strike the onerous filing mandate failed on a vote of 46-52. A cloture vote on Sen. Bill Nelson’s amendment to keep the requirement while changing it on the margins failed 56-42, with 60 votes needed.

Anticipating the vote, The Wall Street Journal editorialized today:

[This] issue won’t go away. The President’s opposition to a clean repeal shows the hollowness of his alleged support for small business, which he expresses at every campaign stop but is less a priority than preserving his health-care legacy.

The larger political story here is that ObamaCare is already under bipartisan siege—and in the same Congress that passed it. The 1099 provision is only one plank, but repealing the law plank by plank may be the right strategy. Sooner or later the whole thing becomes unworkable. Voters should watch this vote to see who’s really on the side of small business.

The Senate subsequently invoked cloture on the underlying small business financing bill, H.R.5297, with 61 votes. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called it the biggest most important vote to support small business since the stimulus bill.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) then took to the Senate floor saying she’s going to introduce a bill today to repeal the IRS 1099 filing requirement, acknowledging the legitimate protests but arguing that immediate action is not necessary. We have a year and a half to fix 1099, we don’t have any more time to help small business.”

From The Washington Examiner, “Some Hill Dems cringe at Obama’s $50 billion spending plan”:

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who is at odds with the Obama administration over its decision to suspend drilling for oil in the Gulf, refused to endorse the plan on Monday, though she is undecided.

“Sen. Landrieu has been and continues to be skeptical of paying for otherwise-beneficial proposals with tax hikes on the oil and gas industry,” said her spokesman, Aaron Saunders. “While these tax increases may be politically popular in some areas of the country, they have a disproportionately negative effect on working families in the Gulf Coast where much of the industry is located. Sen. Landrieu fully supports getting America’s economy back on track, but feels that it should not be done at the expense of the Gulf Coast.”

The Senate has gone on recess until September 13, but a few Senate committee chairmen and members are scheduling field hearings during the month away from Washington. They look like interesting sessions, with some manufacturing implications.

The Senate Commerce Committee has a field hearing set for Tuesday in the far, far north of Barrow, Ak., “The Changing Arctic: Implications for Federal Resources and Local Communities.” Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) is a member of the committee.*

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), who chairs the Senate Small Business Committee, is holding a field hearing Tuesday in Lafayette, La., “The Deepwater Drilling Moratorium: An Economic Disaster for Louisiana’s Small Businesses?”

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, is tending to home-state issues with three field hearings in eastern North Dakota. (During the last recess in June, he held field hearings in western North Dakota.)

• Monday, West Fargo, “Devils Lake Flooding Disaster: A Red River Valley Perspective”
• Tuesday, Lisbon, “Devils Lake Flooding Disaster: How Should Downstream Impacts be Addressed?” (A great, great location for the hearing: The Stake Out Supper Club and Lounge)
• Wednesday, Wahpeton, “Transportation Infrastructure’s Role in Economic Growth,” with testimony from representatives from Bobcat and Cargill.

Flooding in the enclosed Devils Lake Basin is an amazing natural phenomenon, the result of 17 wet years during which Devils Lake has risen 30 feet and quadrupled in size. The associated costs are in the hundreds of millions of dollars. (Nearly $200 million for roads alone.)

* The hearing in Barrow was planned before the death of Sen. Ted Stevens, the former chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. The current chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), paid tribute to Stevens in a statement.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar continued the series of public hearings on developing the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf energy resources at Tulane yesterday, and representing manufacturers and NAM was Virginia Sawyer of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.

Almost 77 percent of the natural gas consumed in Louisiana is for industrial production, she testified, noting that the industrial sector employs 154,000 Louisianans in jobs that pay well above the state average. Let’s foster those jobs:

While tens of thousands of jobs may be created by the development of alternative electricity sources, hundreds of thousands of jobs in Louisiana and along the Gulf coast will be negatively affected if OCS oil and gas production is not aggressively continued. Orderly development of energy should be as fuel-neutral as possible.

From the Dow-Jones report of the hearing, held at Tulane University:

HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- Louisiana representatives encouraged U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to authorize more offshore drilling for oil and gas at a regional meeting held in New Orleans Wednesday.

The representatives asked Salazar not to forget the importance of the oil and gas industry in the U.S. economy as a source of jobs and tax dollars.

“Lifting the ban on energy development on the outer continental shelf will create 1.2 million jobs across the country and $2.2 trillion in tax revenue,” said U.S. Rep. Joseph Cao, R-La. “These numbers represent more than four stimulus packages combined.”

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) also strenuously warned against tax provisions in the Obama and Congressional budgets that could burden the energy sector and called for expanded development of domestic energy resources. From her testimony:

I come today to urge you to look very hard at the proposed tax increases that would diminish the muscle and power of this industry that has served this country so well for so long.

Excellent, clear statement.

Video of the hearing is available here. Next week, Anchorage and San Francisco.

The Senate convenes at 10 a.m. today with talking anticipated to continue on S. 3268, the anti-speculation bill. The Senate did unanimously invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to debate on Tuesday. Key points:

Wall Street Journal, “Bill to Curb Energy Speculation Advances in Senate“:

The bill voted Tuesday would order the regulator of the commodities markets, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to eliminate what lawmakers call excessive speculation in petroleum and natural gas by, among other things, limiting the amount of trades by certain market participants.

Unless party leaders reach a compromise in the interim, the next key vote is likely Thursday, when Republicans may block the bill from moving ahead for a final vote if Democrats block votes on proposals to increase domestic exploration and production.

And a good, balanced, fairly reported story from NPR.

Meanwhile, Politico, “‘Gang of 10′ fights for increased drilling“:

Tuesday evening, five Democratic senators met with five of their Republican colleagues to hash out a plan that would include far more drilling — from the land and from the sea — than would be allowed under any current Democratic proposal.

“There’s going to be substantially more drilling and substantially more conservation,” Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) said of the plan her moderate colleagues are hoping to cobble together. “Democratic leaders are going to be pushed, and Republican leaders are going to be pushed.”

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said the new “Gang of 10” is just trying to overcome some “strongly drawn” battle lines that prevent party leaders from finding common ground.

“We’re not undermining leadership,” Nelson said. “This is not a coup.”

Good luck.