Wednesday - June 15, 2011

Our Brave Republicans In The Senate

Nor do I really give a rat’s ass whether the (R) votes to kill this amendment were from “farm states”. Phooey. ALL STATES ARE FARM STATES; it’s just that some states have more farms than others do. And the time for special interest pork is over. Vote for the good of the nation and to get us out of the financial depression we’re in, or earn my enmity.

Republicans voting to kill this amendment, along with the majority of Democrats:
Blunt (R-MO)
Coats (R-IN)
Cochran (R-MS)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kirk (R-IL)
Moran (R-KS)
Portman (R-OH)
Roberts (R-KS)
Thune (R-SD)
Wicker (R-MS)

Looks like a pretty solid chunk of “flyover country” doesn’t it? The red meat of the Red States. Proving once again that the Republican party is just as much in the bag to the special interest groups and the pork barrel BS as the Democrats are.

Democrats and Independents who might have America’s best interests at heart, along with the majority of the Republicans:
Cantwell (D-WA)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Manchin (D-WV)
Pryor (D-AR)
Tester (D-MT)
Webb (D-VA)

The ethanol industry yesterday praised the U.S. Senate for voting down an amendment by Senator Coburn (R-OK) to repeal ethanol tax incentives, including the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) or the “blenders’ credit” by a vote of 59 to 40.

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) Executive Director Brian Jennings said the vote sends the “right message” to the American public.

“This vote is a major victory for the biofuels industry and American consumers and a setback for those clinging to our status-quo dependence on oil. It proves political stunts aimed at ethanol won’t be tolerated in the U.S. Senate. Now we can focus on continuing our work with the White House and both chambers of Congress to support meaningful and responsible legislation to reform ethanol policy, such as S. 1185, the Ethanol Reform and Deficit Reduction Act, introduced by Senators Thune, Klobuchar, and many others this week,” Jennings said.

Jennings added that ethanol supporters should also be praised for the work that they did in defeating Senator Coburn’s amendment.

“ACE grassroots members from around the nation took the initiative to make phone calls and send emails to Senate offices, making a persuasive case that this vote was important and could make a difference at the pump and in the pocketbook. We thank our members for their efforts and we urge them to stay involved as these discussions continue to develop in the months to come,” Jennings said.

Jeff Broin, Chairman and CEO of the world’s largest ethanol producer, POET, said the ethanol tax credit had been responsible for building America’s “most successful renewable fuel into 10 percent of our gasoline supply”.

The Senate refused Tuesday to end $6 billion in ethanol subsidies, defeating an amendment by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., that crystallized a larger ideological split within the GOP over whether removing tax subsidies is a tax increase or is a legitimate way to trim the $1.5 trillion federal deficit.

The amendment became a test vote in this summer’s struggle to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. Republicans insist a debt-limit increase be accompanied by trillions of dollars in spending cuts and no tax increases. Democrats say tax increases must be part of the equation.
...
More than 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop now goes to ethanol, an alcohol fuel made from corn and added by law to gasoline. The fuel puts upward pressure on corn prices, harming dairy, livestock and chicken farmers who feed corn to their animals and face record $8-a-bushel corn because of flooding in the Mississippi Basin.

Ethanol gets three levels of government support: a 45-cent-a-gallon tax credit paid to refiners set to expire this year; a 54-cent-a-gallon tariff that blocks cheaper and more energy-efficient, sugar-based ethanol imports; and a federal regulation that in effect required a 10 percent blend of ethanol into gasoline.

Seems to me I recall that even Al Gore said that this thing was a flop. And if Mr. Blinders can see that, and admits his support was mostly for political reasons, what excuse does anyone else have?

It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol. One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president.

Glad to know that our elitist Betters in DC won’t listen to him either, and that they remain beholden to big bucks special interest groups. So we won’t be saving that piddling $6 billion in handouts any time soon.

Only in America do we pay farmers to grow food to burn to run our cars. If they can’t make ethanol from grass clippings and scrap plant waste, it’s worthless. And if they can’t make a distillation process that uses less energy than the ethanol that comes out, it’s asinine. And that’s where we are today. Worthless and asinine, just like our Senate.

PS - I didn’t have $15,000 in cash sitting around a year or so ago, so I wasn’t able to trade in my older economy car for a newer flexi-fuel economy car in that Cash For Clunkers program. My car gets about 10% less mpg on this 10% gasohol, or cornoline, or whatever they call the damn mix. I hate it.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/15/2011 at 04:36 PM   
Filed Under: • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices • Republicans •  
• Comments (5) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner