The Senate stands adjourned until 3:00pm on Monday, March 2, 2020, and will resume consideration of Calendar #357, S 2657: Advanced Geothermal Innovation Leadership Act.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., introduced a comprehensive bipartisan energy bill on Thursday.
The 555 page legislative package combines almost all the 50 energy bills that were reported to the Senate in 2019, and is intended to increase innovation in clean energy technologies. The bill will focus on energy efficiency, renewables, energy storage, carbon capture, nuclear power and electric vehicles, while supply chain security provisions include establishing a domestic rare earth supply chain, cybersecurity and grid modernization.
"This bill is our best chance to modernize our nation's energy policies in more than 12 years," Murkowski, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), said in a statement. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is planning to bring the legislative package to the Senate floor for a possible vote as early as next week.
McConnell filed to proceed next week on a Murkowski-Manchin geothermal research and development bill, which will serve as the legislative vehicle for advancing this package, according to ENR. Once senators vote to proceed on the geothermal bill, Murkowski and Manchin plan to introduce a substitute amendment with the full text of their legislative package.
