BREAKING! 35 MPG it is! Senate passes energy bill, back to the house

On their third try the US Senate finally passed the new energy bill this evening. After stripping out all the tax provisions the bill easily passed 86-8 in the Senate. Following the vote the White House announced that President Bush would sign the revised bill once the House of Representatives passes it. A House vote is expected early next week. Along with the tax provisions the renewable energy requirements for electric utilities were also removed from the bill earlier. The stripping of the tax provisions means that there will be no new incentives for plug-in hybrid vehicles. Those incentives would have been paid for by the other increases. New fuel economy standards will take effect in 2011, eventually rising to a 35 mpg fleet average by 2020.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]