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Klobuchar hopes for ethanol deal this week
Senators trying to forge a compromise that would end a major ethanol industry tax break while boosting other support for renewable fuels expressed confidence Tuesday that a deal can be struck soon.
“It is going well,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in the Capitol Tuesday. “I would like to see it get done this week. ... I think we all would.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), an ethanol critic, is leading the charge to immediately end the credit of 45 cents for each gallon of ethanol blended into gasoline and the ethanol import tariff.
Klobuchar and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) – who are allies of ethanol producers – are together pushing for a package that, in return, would extend incentives for producing next-wave cellulosic fuels and boost support for renewable fuels infrastructure.
Thune struck an optimistic tone Tuesday about the negotiations between the three senators. “We are getting real close to, I think, finalizing something that everybody can sign-off on,” he told reporters in the Capitol.
Klobuchar said she would like to see the agreement included on legislation to raise the debt ceiling.
Lawmakers working on the issue are seeking to apply some of the savings from quickly ending the $6 billion annual blenders' credit to deficit reduction, and some of it to other support for renewable fuels.
The blenders' credit is currently scheduled to expire at the end of the year.
