©2025 League of Conservation Voters
1977 Scorecard Vote
37
55
4
Issues
(HR 5263). The vote is on the Jackson amendment to remove from the bill over $30 billion in unnecessary tax credits and subsidies for environmentally destructive forms of energy development. The Jackson amendment would have eliminated four provisions that the Senate Finance Committee had embraced without adequate study and deliberation. It deleted Section 1054 which provided that no energy taxes could be imposed unless the revenues went into an Energy Production, Conversion and Conservation Trust Fund to be used for loan guarantees and other subsidies to the energy companies for development. Jackson called this “a blank check made out to the big energy producers drawn on the account of the American people.” His amendment also deleted Section 1044, which provided the oil shale tax credit described in vote 30. And Jackson’s amendment deleted two provisions in Section 1031, which provided 40% refundable tax credits for nuclear power and for synthetic fuels from coal. Both these technologies have great environmental hazards. The bill’s massive subsidies would have put more desirable renewable energy technologies at a severe disadvantage. The Administration supported Jackson’s position but did not lobby on the amendment. Environmentalists did. Rejected 38-56. October 27, 1977. Yes is the correct vote.
©2025 League of Conservation Voters