Bill Archer: “I stand in reluctant opposition to the conference report on H.R. 2400, the ``Building Efficient Surface Transportation…”

“I stand in reluctant opposition to the conference report on H.R. 2400, the ``Building Efficient Surface Transportation and Equity Act of 1998.'' I am reluctant because the conference report preserves the goals of the House bill to strengthen and enhance our country's transportation needs into the next century. However, the conference report contains a fatal flaw in the revenue title. Its inclusion was preordained before the conference committee was convened. Regrettably, longstanding traditions of the House were ignored to secure an outcome which I adamantly oppose and which forced my decision not to serve on the conference committee. The objectionable provision relates to a 20-year-old subsidy for ethanol which the conference report extends through year 2007. The extension was included despite overwhelming opposition by the Ways and Means Committee and, I believe, by a majority of the House of Representatives. A study by the General Accounting Office concluded that ethanol has had no discernible effect on environmental quality and America's energy security. Furthermore, half of the benefits from this inappropriate subsidy flows to a single company. Editorials in papers from all parts of the country, including the corn-growing Mid-West, have registered opposition to the extension of this outdated and reckless subsidy.”