On the recordJune 16, 2011
I rise today in support of Senator McCain's amendment to prohibit the use of Federal funds for the construction of ethanol blender pumps and ethanol storage facilities. My vote today is not a vote against ethanol as a transportation fuel. I strongly support the greater use of alternative transportation fuels and alternative- fuel filling stations in the United States. In certain cases, I have even advocated for government support of these goals. But government support for a source of energy should create a temporary boost, not a long-term Federal dependency. It is just as foolish to attempt to build an economy on subsidized energy as it is to build a house on the sand. I have been criticized for opposing a Democratic proposal to raise taxes on domestic oil producer, but there is a difference in the size of the Grand Canyon between allowing oil companies to keep a portion of their own profits, which they use for more domestic energy production, versus handing out very large amounts of taxpayer cash to ethanol companies. Ethanol companies not only have a lower tax rate than oil companies on average, they also benefit from the ethanol excise tax credit, from government handouts for ethanol filling infrastructure, a large Federal mandate forcing refineries to produce ethanol whether it makes economic sense or not, and an ethanol import tariff.…
