Groups Ask For End To Ethanol Subsidies

“Although we support the need to advance renewable and alternative sources of energy, we strongly believe it is time that the mature corn-based ethanol industry operates on a level playing field with other commodities that rely on corn as their major input. Favoring one segment of agriculture at the expense of another does not benefit agriculture as a whole or the consumers that ultimately purchase our products.” That’s what the nation’s largest livestock and poultry trade associations (including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and American Meat Institute) said in a letter sent to Senate leadership Friday, They asked Senate leadership to allow a 30-year-old tax credit and a protective tariff for ethanol to expire as scheduled at the end of the year. The Senate Finance Committee now is considering whether or not to extend the ethanol blender’s credit and the tariff on imported ethanol. The groups noted their concerns over the negative economic effects on animal agriculture stemming from the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and the import tariff on foreign ethanol. “The blender’s tax credit, coupled with the import tariff on foreign ethanol, has distorted the corn market, increased the cost of feeding animals, and squeezed production margins, resulting in job losses and bankruptcies in rural communities across America,” they say...more

It will never happen while the Dem's are in control, and probably won't happen while Iowa stays so important in the Presidential primary.

Doesn't hurt to ask though.