Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) offered an amendment to S. 2012, the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015, which would phase out fossil fuel subsidies for coal and some of the largest producers of oil and gas over a four-year period, the same time period over which Congress recently decided to phase out tax credits for solar and wind. The fossil fuel subsidies phased out by this amendment represent billions of dollars of taxpayer handouts for a mature and highly-polluting industry. On February 2, the Senate rejected the Schatz amendment by a vote of 45-50 (Senate roll call vote 14). YES IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.