WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today announced that early Saturday morning, the Senate passed legislation to provide tax relief to students and teachers and to provide incentives for research and development and energy production. The bill also prevents scheduled cuts to Medicare payments to physicians in 2007.

"This bill helps Kansas taxpayers keep more of their hard-earned dollars," Senator Roberts said. "This legislation will provide relief to teachers spending their own money to enhance their classrooms, help farmers at a time when energy costs are high, encourage investment in research and development, and grow our Kansas economy."

The legislation, H.R. 6111, extends several expired tax relief provisions including: a deduction for teachers’ out of pocket spending for the classroom, deductions for college tuition and tax credits for research and development.

Another provision of the bill blocks cuts to Medicare physician and health care worker payments which were set to decrease by five percent in 2007. In July, Senator Roberts sent a letter urging Senate leadership to pass this legislation before the end of the year to prevent a possible decline in services provided to Medicare beneficiaries.

"I am glad the Senate was able to stabilize Medicare payments for one more year allowing doctors, especially rural providers, to continue to provide care for Medicare patients without hurting their bottom line," Roberts said. "It is important to preserve patient access to high quality care, which is already difficult in our rural areas."

The bill also contains language similar to a bill Senator Roberts sponsored in March to enhance energy independence and security by exploring, developing and producing in the Gulf of Mexico. According to estimates by the Minerals Management Service, this exploration will bring nearly1.26 billion barrels of oil and 5.83 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to market. That is enough gas to heat nearly six million homes for 15 years.

"It is obvious," Roberts said, "we must take steps to encourage new exploration in the United States and off our shores. Supplies from this area can help alleviate the pain of paying high prices."

H.R. 6111 extends many tax provisions that boost development of renewable energy resources. One provision particularly beneficial to Kansas is the extension of the1.9 cent per kilowatt hour production tax credit for electricity produced from wind and other renewable resources.