Senators reach deal that could end ethanol subsidies by August
Key Senate lawmakers have reached a deal to end two ethanol subsidies by the end of the month, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, said in a statement that she had reached an agreement with Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat, and Sen. John Thune, a South Dakota Republican. Under the agreement, a 45-cent-a-gallon tax credit for blending ethanol into gasoline would expire on July 31. A 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol would also expire at the end of the month.
The resulting savings of around $1.33 billion would be used to reduce the $14.29 trillion U.S. debt.
The deal is significant in part because the Minnesota and South Dakota lawmakers are ethanol supporters who have been trying to keep federal support alive even though they’ve acknowledged that subsidies must be cut.
A big winner in the deal could be the Brazilian ethanol industry, which has struggled to gain greater access to the U.S. market because of the tariff.
Iowa leads the nation in ethanol production, which has resulted in 50,000 new jobs and accounts for $13 billion of the state’s gross domestic product, according to the Iowa Corn Growers Association.