The National Chicken Council, along with six other poultry and livestock trade groups, sent a letter this week to Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) applauding their leadership in introducing “The Ethanol Subsidy and Tariff Repeal Act,” which would end 30 years of tax credits for conventional ethanol and end the tariff on imported ethanol on July 1. The groups also urged Congress to pass the legislation promptly.
The letter said that the legislation would ease the economic strain that is heavily affecting the industries that rely so heavily on corn to feed livestock and poultry, pointing out that corn-based ethanol has distorted the corn market and stretched corn supplies to the point production costs have been increasing significantly. In addition, the current import tariff on foreign sources of ethanol harms U.S. consumers by retarding development of a robust and sustainable biofuels market, according to the letter.
The Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability Office have already concluded that the subsidy in unnecessary and leading economist agree that ending it would have little impact on ethanol production, prices, or jobs, agriculture trade groups said.
