Senate unable to pass biodiesel extension

Feedstuffs
(9/16/2010)
Jacqui Fatka

Thursday the Senate voted 41-58 against a motion to suspend the rules and accept an amendment offered by Sen. Chuck Grassley, (R., Iowa), to enact a retroactive extension of the biodiesel tax credit. The motion needed 67 votes to pass and was needed because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D., Nev.), had filed an amendment tree preventing additional amendments from being filed.

The American Soybean Assn., expressed disappointment over the once again failed attempt. ASA will continue to press its case in the weeks remaining before Congress adjourns to campaign for the upcoming elections, the association said. Although hopes of anything significant passing during a lame duck session are unlikely, there has been some discussion of a light energy bill coming up during a lame duck. When questioned whether the biodiesel tax extension has a chance of seeing approval doing lame duck, a spokeswoman for Grassley's office noted, "I don’t think anybody can speculate with any sort of certainty as to what will happen in the lame duck."

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