Earl Pomeroy: “I am a Democrat representing an energy- producing State, and I will be proudly supporting this bill. This bill creates a…”

“I am a Democrat representing an energy- producing State, and I will be proudly supporting this bill. This bill creates a very important reserve, a reserve that will serve as a funding base for our efforts to significantly expand critical research in order to develop greater energy independence for our country while continuing those tax credits that have been absolutely essential to the growth of renewable fuels in our country. We face the promise of not looking to the Middle East, but looking to the Middle West for our energy future, and we are seeing across the plains of this country wonderful developments. A 10-fold increase of ethanol production alone in my State is under construction at the present time due essentially to these tax credits that continue to fuel this revolution. What about the issues of a new tax, something that will crack people right at the pump. The reality is we are addressing something that was slipped into a massive bill dealing with the tax needs of manufacturers. {time} 1330 As we restructured the tax base on the Nation's manufacturers, in light of international trade pressures, we constructed a bill, moved the bill forward, and at no point in the debate in the Ways and Means Committee or on the floor of the House was there notice provided that a similar tax treatment was slipped in for the oil companies. This is something they did not have before; it is something that has not been long critical to their operations.…”