U.S. Senator Susan Collins today voted in favor of an amendment, that she cosponsored, that would repeal the ethanol tax earmark and tariff. If enacted, the amendment would save $3 billion for the remainder of this year and $6 billion annually. Unfortunately, the final vote was 40-59. Senator Collins’ spoke on the Senate floor Monday and urged her colleagues to end these subsidies. You can watch the video
here.
Following is Senator Collins' statement:
" These policies are fiscally irresponsible, environmentally unwise, and economically indefensible.
"The ethanol tax break is extraordinarily expensive. The Government Accountability Office has found that the tax credit costs American taxpayers a staggering $6 billion annually. This is quite a sum to prop up a fuel that is causing land conversion for corn production, commodity and food prices to rise, and is barely putting a dent in our nation's dangerous dependence on foreign oil.
"With our amendment, which has an effective date of July 1st, we have the opportunity to immediately save American taxpayers nearly $3 billion in just the six months remaining in 2011.
"Here in Maine, gasoline containing 10 percent ethanol is already causing problems in the engines of older cars, lawnmowers, snowmobiles and boats. I am disappointed that the EPA has issued a partial waiver for gas containing even more ethanol.
"But the bottom line is we can no longer afford to ignore the cost of this policy to our nation and its taxpayers, particularly given our current fiscal crisis. At a time when we are projecting a deficit of $1.5 trillion, we simply must stop subsidizing the ethanol industry."
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