Pork Barrel Ethanol Bill Makes its Way Through Congress

THE AGRIBUSINESS EXAMINER
October 22, 2004, Issue #376
Monitoring Corporate Agribusiness
>From a Public Interest Perspective

EDITOR\PUBLISHER; A.V. Krebs
E-MAIL: avkrebs@earthlink.net
WEB SITE: http://www.ea1.com/CARP/
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ETHANOL TAX CREDIT PROVISIONS ADDED TO OMNIBUS CORPORATE TAX GIVEAWAY BILL

NICHOLAS E. HOLLIS, AGRIBUSINESS COUNCIL: At the eleventh hour, Congress
passed the latest "omnibus" giveaway with the corporate tax credit - so
called "Jobs Bill" --- during an unusual holiday session on October 11.

The package contains new ethanol tax credit provisions which could have a
profoundly negative impact on the federal deficit, while paving the way for
accelerated marketing of the fuel additive at independent gas station pumps
around the nation. All without enabling motorists to know which gasoline
blends actually contain ethanol --- known to reduce gas mileage, along with
engine efficiencies, while increasing smog.

ADM front groups --- including the National Corn Growers and the Renewable
Fuels Association --- were credited with the victory and sharp elbows ---
propelling their priorities to the head of the line. Earlier in this
congressional session, these groups threatened farm state legislators with a
"corn shucking" if they broke ranks on ethanol --- and message resonated
widely. ADM figures to be a major beneficiary if the legislation becomes law.

Washington's economists and budget watchdogs --- including Treasury
secretary John Snow and others at OMB and the Congressional Budget Office
--- have been strenuous in warning that this legislation is unaffordable.
Unfortunately,it is likely to be signed into law within the next week ---
unless the White House hears soon from an outraged public (?)

As usual, a key figure in the latest ethanol surge --- heading of the pack
of "special interests" to the public trough with this bill --- was Tom
Daschle (Dem.-South Dakota) --- who reportedly held off his support until
some of the pro-ethanol provisions in the long stalled highway bill were
tacked onto the tax legislation.

Unlike other bottom feeders , ethanol promoters have a complex series of
priority provisions in three major legislative packages, energy, transport
and tax --- two of which stalled out in this Congress. But with a delicate,
multi-tiered pyramid of laws and regulations, carefully cobbled to prop up
this enormous scam --- another ethanol add-on subsidy extension could create
unforeseen havoc (and more concentrated power) within the nation's ag-energy
sector --- all the detriment of the motoring public. With lameduck sessions
scheduled after the elections - it is likely ethanol advocates will push for more.

In a final irony --- the original rationale for the bill itself --- a simple
fix of an American export subsidy ruled unfair by the World Trade
Organization --- may have become so obscured by special interest provisions
--- that the final "Christmas tree" doesn't satisfy EU officialdom : This
would result in the massive trade retaliation and fines the legislation
sought to avoid in the first place. So much for sanity in an Election year.
[ October 14, 2004 ]