Environmentalists were disappointed that one of their priorities -- a requirement that by 2020 utilities generate 15% of their electricity from cleaner sources, such as the sun and wind -- was stripped from the bill, even though it enjoys majority support in the House and Senate.
Bush threatened to veto the measure over the provision, and a number of Republican senators threatened to mount a bill-killing filibuster. They contended the provision would increase utility bills in regions not blessed with strong wind or plentiful sunshine.
About half of the states now require utilities to invest in green power. California has required utilities to generate 20% of their power from renewable sources by 2010.
Democratic leaders also stripped the bill of a provision that would have repealed $13 billion in tax breaks for the oil and gas industries. The White House and most Senate Republicans, calling it a tax increase, opposed the provision.
Earlier in the day, Democratic leaders made a bid to keep the repeal of the tax breaks part of the measure. The four Democratic senators running for president were called from the campaign trail to vote on the issue, but it still lost, 59 to 40, falling one short of the 60 required to overcome a filibuster.
Nine Republicans joined the two independents and all but one of the chamber's Democrats in voting to consider the bill with the tax measure. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), campaigning for the presidency in Iowa, missed the vote but would have joined the majority of his GOP colleagues in voting against taking up the bill with the tax measure, his spokeswoman said.
Sen. Mary L. Landrieu, who is in a tight race for reelection next year in energy-producing Louisiana, was the one Democrat who opposed the tax measure.
Democrats sought the repeal to raise money to pay for the development of cleaner energy sources and to promote energy efficiency.
Opponents said that ending the tax breaks would discourage energy exploration and lead to tighter supplies and higher gasoline prices.
Karen Matusic, with the American Petroleum Institute, defended the tax incentives. "To single out one industry at a time that our nation needs greater investment in all forms of energy is wrong and would run counter to a goal of increased energy security," she said.
Some environmental groups were furious that Democrats bowed to GOP threats.
