Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 6/17/11

The U.S. Senate voted Thursday in favor of an amendment to repeal the 45-cent-per-gallon Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and the 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol.

The 73-27 vote prompted cheers from livestock producers paying high corn prices to feed their animals and jeers from an Obama administration pushing renewable energy sources.

Bill Donald, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said the Senate vote marks a big step toward leveling the playing field for the ethanol and meat production industries.

“Cattlemen aren’t opposed to ethanol. In fact, we support our nation’s commitment to reducing our dependence on foreign oil,” he said in a news release. “But after 30 years and more than $30 billion in taxpayer support, the day has come to let the mature corn-based ethanol industry stand on its own two feet.”

But the executive branch wasn’t as enthusiastic about the Senate’s vote, characterizing it as an effort to undermine the U.S. renewable energy industry. President Obama aims to reduce imports of foreign oil by one-third by 2025, and biofuels are integral to that effort.

In a statement Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “The Administration supports efforts currently underway in the Senate to reform and modernize tax incentives and other programs that support biofuels. However, today’s amendments are not reforms and are ill advised. They will lead to job loss as our nation begins its economic recovery and pull the rug out from under industry, which will lead to less choice for consumers and greater dependence on foreign oil.”

The amendment was introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).
In a separate measure, the House voted 283-128 to pass an amendment introduced by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) that would prohibit USDA from using appropriated funds to install ethanol pumps and storage facilities.

“At a time of record federal deficits coupled with rising food prices, it is time to end the 30-plus years of taxpayer subsidies afforded to the corn-based ethanol industry, which is costing taxpayers approximately $6 billion this year alone,”  AMI President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle said in a news release. “The passage of these two measures, which received wide and bipartisan support, highlights a growing concern on Capitol Hill about unnecessary federal support of corn-based ethanol.  It is time the corn ethanol industry operates on a level playing field with other commodities that rely on corn as their major input.”

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.