AMI, Diverse Coalition Commend Bipartisan House Bill Introduced Today to End Ethanol Subsidy

(American Meat Institute)Representatives Wally Herger (R-CA) and Joseph Crowley (D-NY) today introduced a bipartisan bill that would bring an immediate end to both the $0.45 per gallon Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and the tariff on imported ethanol, the latest in a rapid sequence of legislative efforts to end taxpayer support for corn ethanol.  The bill mirrors an amendment introduced by Senators Feinstein (D-CA) and Coburn (R-OK) that passed the Senate last week 73-27.  
 
AMI joined a broad and diverse group of almost 30 associations in support of the bill.  “We applaud and thank Representatives Herger and Crowley for their bipartisan leadership in moving the critical issue of biofuels policy reform forward,” the groups wrote in a press release.  “It is high time the United States ended taxpayer-funded subsidies for corn-based ethanol and this bill is a step in the right direction.  We encourage the House to move quickly to enact this legislation and to continue to oppose spending on infrastructure that will expand the market for corn-based ethanol.”
 
A copy of the coalition’s press release can be found at: http://bit.ly/ijqt7a. 
 
Added AMI President and CEO J. Patrick Boyle:
 
“The American Meat Institute commends Reps. Herger and Crowley for introducing this bipartisan bill that would end the costly and unnecessary protection and subsidization of converting corn into fuel, save taxpayers billions of dollars and help ease one factor that's causing the spike in food prices.  The introduction of this legislation in the House of Representatives further highlights a bipartisan and bicameral concern on Capitol Hill about unnecessary federal support of corn-based ethanol and we urge House members to join their colleagues in the Senate in overwhelmingly voting to eliminate government support for corn-based ethanol.”  

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