Political Quotes

“Mr. President, tomorrow the Senate will vote on a cloture motion that deals with an amendment that would do away with a tax provision that was enacted many years back by Congress but was extended just this last December. In fact, there were a whole series of tax extenders that were passed by the Congress in December of last year, but this particular one, the volumetric ethanol excise tax credit, was also extended. It was extended until the end of the year 2011. December 31 of this year is when it would expire with the amendment we will be voting on tomorrow--or at least the cloture motion we will be voting on is with regard to an amendment that would eliminate that and end it now. There are a number of problems associated with that approach, one of which is this issue of economic certainty. We have lots of people across this country who have made investments. We have lots of jobs that are impacted by this industry. In fact, if you look, there are 204 plants, ethanol plants, in America today, spread across 29 States and on the order of about half a million jobs--all of which, I might add, are American jobs--you have half a million American jobs impacted by this industry. The ironic thing, too, is coming on the heels of an announcement last week that Venezuela, Libya, and Iran will block OPEC from producing more oil to relieve gasoline prices, we continue to be held more and more hostage every single day by our addiction to foreign oil.…”