Senate Budget Committee Chair Kent Conrad (D-ND) has outlined an alternative route to Senate passage for the alternative energy tax incentive bill described below. Including these tax provisions in the budget reconciliation instructions allows them to pass the Senate with a simple majority vote, rather than the usual 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. A similar energy tax incentives bill died in the Senate last December after controversy over the offsets to pay for it left the bill one vote shy of the 60 needed for a vote. Another sticking point in the Senate: the bill's elimination of some major oil and gas company tax breaks.