The Senate approved a measure increasing the amount of money for wind energy research by more than $15 million in its version of an energy and water funding bill Tuesday.
Senators voted 54-42 to adopt an amendment proposed by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., that would fund wind energy research at the same level in fiscal 2017 as it is for the current fiscal year, at $95.4 million. The bill on the Senate floor contained $80 million for wind energy research funding.
In a floor speech Monday, Grassley said increasing wind energy research funding would require no new funding and instead would shift $15.4 million from the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to wind energy research.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed cloture on the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act Monday evening, with a vote on the bill coming by Wednesday at the latest. Grassley’s amendment was one of three getting votes Tuesday morning.
The $37.5 billion bill contains funding for the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers. The Obama administration has threatened to veto the bill over “ideological” riders.
