Dear Congress: please pass Cardin-Coburn
By D.J. McGuire | Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 | PolicySenator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) issued the press release, but since Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) is in the majority, he gets first billing:
U.S. Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) today introduced a bill to save taxpayers $6 billion by repealing the costly and ineffective Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) or “blenders tax credit,” which provides .45 cents per gallon to blenders of ethanol.
Both gentlemen stated the case for ending this nonsensical policy.
“The ethanol tax credit is bad economic policy, bad energy policy and bad environmental policy. The $6 billion we waste every year on corporate welfare should instead stay in taxpayers’ pockets where it can be used to spur innovation, stimulate growth and create jobs. I’m hopeful my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will take a stand against business-as-usual special interest giveaways and eliminate this wasteful and harmful subsidy,” Dr. Coburn said.
“As our economy begins to grow again, we need to bring our budget under control through a combination of smart cuts and smart investments. Cutting yet another subsidy to big oil that is making big profits is smart policy. Rather than underwriting ethanol subsidies that are causing food prices to skyrocket, we should be supporting American innovation in more sustainable alternative fuels the results of which will help create jobs, lower energy costs and strengthen our national security,” said Senator Cardin.
This is certain to gin up trouble in the Districts of Huskerstan (Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota), but saving $6 billion a year to keep food as, well, food should be a slam dunk – especially when the entire Persian Gulf can no longer keep up with Canada in terms of oil sent to the United States.
Cardin-Coburn is the right thing to do.
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Former candidate for Board of Supervisors in Spotsylvania, current blogger, economics teacher, and long-rumored windbag. There are two causes closest to the heart: steering the country away from the social democratic nonsense that is sinking Europe, and convincing the rest of the "rightosphere" that the NBA really is a joy to watch.
Comments
8 Responses to "Dear Congress: please pass Cardin-Coburn"
Cutting ethanol subsidies is great but I sure wish Coburn would start writing his own statements. I’m tired of the gangster socialists like Cardin writing the transcripts on behalf of the conservatives, I can tell you.
Huh? They each had a quote.
Great post, D. J., for a very worthy bill. The ethanol tax credit is another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. It has increased the demand for corn because of diversion of former food crops to blending. Consequently, everything in our food supply that depends on corn, from milk to beef to baked goods, has more than doubled in price since the VEETC was passed in 2004. (Remember when milk used to cost less than gasoline?)
Ironically, ethanol does not save energy. When you calculate the total energy consumption to produce it, it takes more fossil fuel per gallon than gasoline, principally in generating the electricity needed.
However, the mid west corn farmers love it because of what it has done to their crop prices. Now, if Congress would just find the cojones to get rid of the rest of the Farm Bill…
DJ
MY Bad. However, both paragraphs seemed to flow together so well I just missed Coburn’n name. I’ll go back to sleep.
DJ,
Thanks for highlighting this. John Stossel did a great expose on ethanol awhile ago…burns more dirty than oil, costs more energy to produce than it replaces in oil consumption and drives up food prices…next maybe they can take on other harmful subsidies on commodities like sugar!
Ron: Or, as long as we’re already taking on big corn, maybe we could lessen the amount of high-fructose corn crack that gets put into nearly everything we eat these days.
Getting rid of the ethanol subsidy is a good idea. Be interesting to see how this goes, there’s some big money (ADM) on the other side.
Hmmm, there’s apparently a Webb-Feinstein bill that removes the subsidy as well and reduced the tariff on imported ethanol.
I have heard a lot of great things about The Virginia Alternative and Renewable Energy Association (VA-AREA). This group is working in partnership to enact pro-growth public policy to expand Virginia’s renewable energy industry, create jobs and attract investment to Virginia. Supporting their cause I feel will greatly help the Commonwealth out and I encourage anyone interested in sustainable energy to check out their website.
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