Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senators Feinstein and Coburn supporting an amendment to repeal the ethanol excise tax credit and the ethanol import tariff. These policies are fiscally irresponsible, environmentally unwise, and economically indefensible. Today we have another opportunity to take action to end them. Historically, our government has helped a product compete in one of three ways: we subsidize it, we protect it from competition, or we require its use. Right now, ethanol may be the only product receiving all three forms of support. The ethanol tax break is extraordinarily expensive. The Government Accountability Office has found that the tax credit costs American taxpayers a staggering $6 billion annually. This is quite a sum to prop up a fuel that is causing land conversion for corn production, commodity and food prices to rise, and is barely putting a dent in our Nation's dependence on foreign oil. With our amendment, we have the opportunity to immediately save American taxpayers nearly $3 billion for the remainder of 2011 alone. Ethanol use is mandated under the renewable fuels standard, RFS, which guarantees market for corn ethanol. Collectively, the first generation biofuels industry will receive tens of billions in unnecessary subsidies through the year 2022.…”