The Senate today rejected an amendment to the small business bill sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., that would have excluded much of the oil and gas industry from a key manufacturing tax deduction. The amendment centered around tax reporting in the health care bill and would have been paid for with the exclusion from the tax deduction.
The oil industry, which has been lobbying against the amendment, praised the rejection today. In a statement, American Petroleum Institute Tax Manager Stephen Comstock said:
We are pleased the Senate failed to approve this shortsighted amendment that sought to unfairly repeal a job-creating tax provision for a handful of oil and natural gas companies. Had it passed, the provision would have raised taxes and killed jobs, something the nation cannot afford, especially when so many Americans are out of work.
On a conference call earlier today with reporters, API President Jack Gerard said passage of the amendment would “put some $127 billion in energy development investments at risk between 2011-2020.” Gerard said that such a reduction in investment would threaten thousands of jobs.
