Political Quotes

“As the Senators know, the compromise fuels package in the Daschle energy bill, which includes my language to ban MTBE and clean up the contamination caused by this gas additive, will also dramatically increase the use of ethanol. This compromise came after lengthy negotiations with several members of the Senate. We all worked in good faith to reach this agreement. However, the increase in ethanol use will, over time, have a negative impact on the highway trust fund due to the ethanol subsidy which exempts ethanol from a good portion of the gasoline tax that pays into the trust fund. This is a concern that virtually all members of the Environment & Public Works Committee share, and it is problem that we will have to address. I believe that reauthorization of TEA-21 is the proper place to fix the trust fund problems caused by the increased ethanol use. Between now and the time we introduce TEA-21 reauthorization, I would encourage all parties to work together, in a similar fashion to the way we reached the fuels compromise, in order to reach a consensus on the ethanol tax subsidy.”