U.S. Senate energy bill calls Bush's bluff on veto

"The tweaks the Senate has made to the counterproductive House energy bill will do nothing to produce more, much-needed oil and natural gas supplies for American consumers," the API said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he hoped enough Republican lawmakers would support the legislation to obtain the 60 votes needed from the chamber's 100 members to block a filibuster of the bill.

"This is an opportunity for Republicans to stand with Americans who are paying more than ever at the pump, instead of with the big oil companies who are raking in record profits," said Reid.

Democrat Jeff Bingaman, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, said White House top economic adviser Allan Hubbard told him this week that Bush wants an energy bill that does not have any taxes to pay for the legislation's renewable tax credit extension and energy efficiency programs.

"They're opposed to offsetting that revenue loss. They want to add (the bill's costs) to the deficit," Bingaman told reporters in a conference call on Wednesday afternoon.

The bill would treat renewable energy sources much better than the oil and gas sector, including extending the wind energy production tax credit for two years and providing a tax credit for eight years for commercial installation of solar energy panels.

In a move supported by the White House, Reid removed from the bill a controversial plan to require utilities to generate 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind power by 2020.

The White House had also threatened to veto the legislation over the electricity standard. (Editing by Matthew Lewis)