Ethanol lobby poised for another win

Politico
By DARREN GOODE 12/3/10 10:36 AM EST Updated: 12/3/10 12:55 PM EST

The ethanol industry — which is being attacked from everyone from tea party backers to Al Gore — nonetheless may be poised to win another victory on Capitol Hill and continue a decades-long ride of federal help for at least one more year.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) undoubtedly gave comfort to backers of the corn-based gasoline additive when he included a sought-after one-year extension of a key expiring ethanol tax credit as part of a much-larger middle class tax cut package he unveiled Thursday.

The 45-cent volumetric excise ethanol tax credit — set to expire at year’s end — would be extended through next year at 36 cents per gallon. This is the level Democrats on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee recommended this summer, and it is supported by the Obama administration, which feels it must address calls to reduce federal spending during the next Congress.

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