The next big GOP intra-party war: Ethanol subsidies?

The Washington Post
Posted at 11:25 AM ET, 11/22/2010
By Greg Sargent

Is there a new intra-GOP war brewing -- a sequel to the Tea Party's big victory in the battle over earmarks?

Fresh off a big victory over the GOP establishment on earmarks, conservative GOP senators are opening up a new front in the battle on government spending that could be similar to the earmarks standoff: They are calling on Congress to let billions in ethanol subsidies expire.

Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn, two leading conservative Senators who have pushed the GOP to be serious about its anti-spending rhetoric, told me they are calling on fellow Republicans to urge Congress to allow ethanol subsidies to expire -- something that could put other leading GOP Senators in an awkward spot and subject them (in theory) to the wrath of the anti-government-spending Tea Party if they don't go along.

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