In a letter hand-delivered to Grassley this morning, Roth confirmed that he will include extension of the ethanol incentive in the highway funding bill to be considered during the next month by the Senate tax-writing committee.
Roth's pledge came in response to a formal request made Thursday afternoon by Grassley, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois. These three senators asked Roth to include in the committee's highway reauthorization tax amendment the exact Grassley/Moseley-Braun ethanol extension language that was overwhelmingly approved this summer by the Finance Committee during reconciliation of the budget.
There is "wide support for the extension from not only the Republican and Democratic Congressional leadership, but also President Clinton and Vice President Gore," they wrote in the letter to Roth.
In June, Finance Committee members voted 16 to four in favor of the Grassley/Moseley-Braun amendment to extend the ethanol incentive through the year 2007. The full Senate endorsed the extension one week later with a vote of 69 to 30 for ethanol. Nevertheless, the ethanol extension was not included in the final bi-partisan balanced budget approved by Congress and signed by the President in August.
Grassley has stated repeatedly that he will not give up on getting the ethanol program extended. He has sought to bolster support for ethanol in the administration as well as on Capitol Hill. In August, Grassley took a call on his Northeast Iowa farm from President Bill Clinton to discuss ethanol, and he talked at length about the importance of the effort with Vice President Al Gore. Both Clinton and Gore endorsed Grassley's effort. Grassley also secured support this summer for an extension of ethanol's partial exemption from the highway excise tax from Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Today's development follows unanimous, bi-partisan approval on Wednesday by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee of the six-year, $145 billion Intermodal Transportation Act of 1997, known as ISTEA. The Finance Committee holds jurisdiction over the tax portion of the highway bill.
"Extension of the incentive is key to continued investment in expanded ethanol production throughout the Midwest. It's good for farmers and jobs in rural America. It's good for the environment. And in terms of our fight against dependence on foreign energy, the ethanol tax incentive is a bargain," Grassley said.