September 20, 2012
Harkin Statement on Senate Republicans’ Decision to Block Production Tax Credit Extension, Jobs Legislation
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today issued the following statement after the U.S. Senate failed to take up a bill to extend the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC) and other tax provisions that have expired or will soon expire. Majority Leader Reid asked consent last night for the Senate to consider the tax extenders package. Congressional Republicans objected to consideration of the measure. Earlier this year, the tax package was approved by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on a bipartisan vote of 19-5.
“Just one day after Siemens Energy announced it is laying off more than 400 workers at its Fort Madison wind-turbine plant, Senate Republicans blocked extension of the very same tax credit that may have saved these jobs. In the U.S. House, Republican leaders are also refusing to take up a wind PTC extension. This opposition has consequences. It costs jobs and devastates communities like Fort Madison. What makes this all the harder to take is that it is unnecessary. Siemens blames the layoffs, in large measure, on market conditions created by Congress’s failure to extend the wind energy tax credit. This underscores, yet again, the huge costs – in terms of jobs and economic growth – of the decision by Congressional Republicans to block essential jobs legislation.”