Senate Votes To End Ethanol Subsidies
- Written by: John Galt
- Published in Energy
WSJ | A broad bipartisan majority of the Senate voted Thursday to end more than three decades of federal subsidies for ethanol, signaling that other long-sacrosanct programs could be at risk as Democrats and Republicans negotiate a sweeping deficit-reduction deal.
The tax breaks, which now cost about $6 billion a year, had long been considered untouchable politically because of the power of farm-state voters and lawmakers. Iowa's role as the site of the first presidential caucuses has further elevated the political potency of the biofuel.
Presidential hopefuls made a quadrennial ritual of going to Iowa and pledging to support the tax breaks.