Senate Rejects Measure to End Ethanol Tax Credits
Published June 14, 2011
The Senate on Tuesday rejected a proposal that would have eliminated ethanol tax credits worth $5 billion a year -- a stunning setback for conservatives who were rallying around it in recent days as a way to reduce the national debt.
Sen. Tom Coburn's, R-Okla., measure only drew 40 votes, way short of the 60 needed for passage. The proposal would have repealed a 54-cents-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol, which restricts imports, mainly from Brazil.
Coburn forced a vote on his amendment to a bill that would renew a federal economic development program by filing cloture on it -- a rare procedural tactic that is usually employed by the majority party. But his maneuver backfired as angry Democrats revolted, a senior Democratic leadership aide told Fox News.
The ethanol industry and the powerful Americans for Tax Reform, among others, mobilized against Coburn, despite other conservatives, including the influential Club for Growth, supporting the amendment.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he'll give the effort another chance next week but Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., will offer the amendment instead. It may also include an effort to truly "open up the market" to alternatives" according to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.
Coburn's effort had brought together two sides who rarely agree on anything: conservatives and environmentalists.
A coalition of different-minded groups, including the Sierra Club and the Union of Concerned Scientists, drafted a letter in March voicing support for ending the subsidy. Other groups in the coalition included Oxfam America, the National Restaurant Association and assorted meat, poultry and dairy producers.
Coburn argued that the tax credits are wasteful subsidies for an industry that no longer needs them.
"The days of placing spending programs in the tax code and giving them holy status are over," Coburn said. "Ethanol is bad economic policy, bad energy policy and bad environmental policy."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/14/senate-debates-eliminating-ethanol-tax-credits/#ixzz1PHi54BnQ
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