Parity bill misses Senate passage by narrow margin; field buoyed anyway.

A filibuster in the Senate last week stopped passage of the federal parity bill, which was attached to the huge tax relief bill under fire from Republicans. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, added the parity bill, a compromise between versions in the House of Representatives and the Senate, to the Jobs, Energy, Families, and Disaster Relief Act of 2008 (S. 3335) on July 25. On July 30, Senate Republicans prevented the bill from coming to a vote, with 51 Senators voting for cloture (ending debate) and 43 voting against. A 60-vote majority is necessary to end debate.

The field was happy with the compromise. Parity is a long hard road in which each step forward should be viewed as a victory, say field leaders.

Although parity lost along with the tax relief bill, the loss was not on the merits. Rather, it was due to political battles over energy--there were tax breaks for solar and …