II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2107 

To provide additional appropriations for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 for fiscal year 2006 and to amend the Internal 

Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a refundable tax credit for residential 

energy cost assistance, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 15, 2005 

Mr. BAUCUS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To provide additional appropriations for the Low-Income 

Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 for fiscal year 

2006 and to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

to provide a refundable tax credit for residential energy 

cost assistance, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Household Energy and 

5 Taxpayer Assistance Act of 2005’’. 
2 

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1 SEC. 2. LOW-INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PRO2 GRAM. 

3 In addition to any amounts otherwise appropriated 

4 for the program authorized under the Low-Income Home 

5 Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8621 et seq.) 

6 for fiscal year 2006, there is appropriated, out of any 

7 money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise 

8 appropriated, an additional $2,917,000,000 for fiscal year 

9 2006 for such program (other than the program author10 ized under section 2604(e) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

11 8623(e)). 

12 SEC. 3. REFUNDABLE TAX CREDIT FOR RESIDENTIAL EN13 ERGY COST ASSISTANCE. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub15 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

16 1986 (relating to refundable credits) is amended by redes17 ignating section 36 as section 37 and by inserting after 

18 section 35 the following new section: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 36. CREDIT FOR RESIDENTIAL ENERGY COST ASSIST20 ANCE. 

21 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—In the case of any individual, 

22 there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed 

23 by this subtitle for the taxable year an amount equal to 

24 20 percent of the qualified residential energy costs of the 

25 taxpayer during such taxable year. 
3 

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1 ‘‘(b) LIFETIME LIMITATION.—The credit allowed 

2 under this section with respect to any taxpayer for any 

3 taxable year shall not exceed the excess (if any) of $200 

4 ($300 in the case of a joint return) over the aggregate 

5 credits allowed under this section with respect to such tax6 payer for all prior taxable years. 

7 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.—For pur8 poses of this section— 

9 ‘‘(1) RESIDENTIAL ENERGY COSTS.—The term 

10 ‘qualified residential energy costs’ means, with re11 spect to any principal residence of the taxpayer lo12 cated in the United States, the costs paid or in13 curred by the taxpayer for the period beginning after 

14 September 31, 2005, and ending before October 1, 

15 2006, for any energy utility and home energy fuel. 

16 ‘‘(2) REDUCTION FOR GRANTS.—The amount of 

17 qualified residential energy costs which may be 

18 taken into account with respect to such period shall 

19 be reduced by any amount received by the taxpayer 

20 during such period for any residential energy cost 

21 under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 

22 program under title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget 

23 Reconciliation Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8621 et seq.). 
4 

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1 ‘‘(3) PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE.—The term ‘prin2 cipal residence’ has the same meaning as in section 

3 121, except that— 

4 ‘‘(A) no ownership requirement shall be 

5 imposed, and 

6 ‘‘(B) the principal residence must be used 

7 by the taxpayer as the taxpayer’s residence dur8 ing the taxable year. 

9 ‘‘(4) CERTAIN PERSONS NOT ELIGIBLE.—This 

10 section shall not apply to any individual with respect 

11 to whom a deduction under section 151 is allowable 

12 to another taxpayer for a taxable year beginning in 

13 the calendar year in which such individual’s taxable 

14 year begins. 

15 ‘‘(5) HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATIONS.—The appli16 cation of this section to homeowners associations (as 

17 defined in section 528(c)(1)) or members of such as18 sociations, and tenant-stockholders in cooperative 

19 housing corporations (as defined in section 216), 

20 shall be allowed by allocation, apportionment, or oth21 erwise, to the individuals paying, directly or indi22 rectly, for the qualified residential energy cost so in23 curred. 
5 

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1 ‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary may prescribe 

2 such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary 

3 or appropriate to carry out this section.’’. 

4 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

5 (1) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 

6 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ before 

7 ‘‘enacted’’ and by inserting before the period at the 

8 end ‘‘, or from section 36 of such Code’’. 

9 (2) The table of sections for subpart C of part 

10 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev11 enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking the item 

12 relating to section 35 and by adding at the end the 

13 following new items: 

‘‘Sec. 36. Credit for residential energy cost assistance. 

‘‘Sec. 37. Overpayments of tax.’’. 

14 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

15 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

16 December 31, 2004. 

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