WASHINGTON: The US Senate Committee on Wednesday issued bills on climate and energy initiatives that are expected to be debated as part of a broader bipartisan infrastructure bill.
The Senate energy panel voted 13 to 7 to pass through the bill, which includes funds to help electricity networks handle more electricity from renewable sources and increase hydrogen production from a cleaner source than fossil fuels.
The bill was sponsored by Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat and Chair of the Committee, also included the initiative to help existing nuclear power plants suffering from competition from natural gas factories and renewable energy.
The top republic in the committee, Senator John Barrasso Wyoming, the top coal producing countries, voted on bills on the grounds that it is not enough to improve domestic mining for minerals used in all things ranging from renewable energy that will help the country compete against China.
Barrasso said he would continue to work on steps in the bill.
Manchin thanked Barrasso and other Republicans to work on the items they agreed on, such as funds to clean the coal mine and oil and gas wells, and did not deter the bill.
“Even though they might not agree with where we went some items, they basically did not put the road barrier,” Manchin said.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, encouraged Congress to pass through the infrastructure package of two trajectories which included a 1.2 trillion bipartisan bill and democratic bills expected to include more initiatives about the climate.