Mr. President, I rise today to speak to the proceedings that have just occurred in this body with regard to ethanol and to talk about how I see them from the perspective of my home state of Delaware. Today, the Senate agreed on a path forward to end federal subsidies for corn-based ethanol. The votes on today’s amendments were a reflection of where we’re from. For Delaware, agriculture is the single-largest part of our economy. We grow a lot of corn, a lot of soybeans. We have companies investing in advanced biofuels, and we have a major poultry industry, and today I voted for Delaware’s poultry growers and for our consumers.
Lots of folks across this country in the last few years have lost their jobs, lost their home, lost their livelihoods. It’s important that the people of Delaware know on the record that the vote I cast today to end federal subsidies for ethanol was about voting to make sure that we are supporting our home state poultry industry. My main concern is concern is that one of the most important economic engines – not just in Delaware but on the whole Delmarva Peninsula – is the poultry industry. At a time when many other agricultural industries are seeing record prices – and that is a positive thing, a boon for them, for the poultry industry – it is forcing companies to rethink their business models. Sadly, in one case just last week, one of the most important and vital poultry companies in Delaware shut its doors and went into bankruptcy.
We need to move away from corn-based ethanol and toward homegrown, advanced biofuels if we’re going to accomplish three goals at the same time. One is to reduce our deficit – to end unwise and unnecessary federal spending. The second is to support and advance and defend our poultry industry, whether in Delmarva or throughout the rest of the country. The third is to continue to move, to make progress, toward the future of clean, promising biofuels that are not from grain.
The amendment I just voted for closes the door on corn-based ethanol, but in my view that should not prevent us from finding a path forward to advanced biofuels, those not from grain – whether cellulosic biofuels or those developed from algae or others. Today, I also filed an amendment with Senator Carper, the senior Senator from Delaware, that makes it clear that, as we close the door on corn-based ethanol, we need to do two more things going forward. First, use those billions of dollars in savings to reduce the deficit, and second, redirect funds formerly committed to VEETC to support an important but just-beginning advanced biofuel industry.
Ultimately, the policies we pursue should lead to American consumers, producers, and farmers using less petroleum and – more importantly – using less oil from overseas sources. If we are going to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and, especially on those that we import from overseas, we’re going to need to continue to pursue a range of cleaner and more secure sources of energy. Advanced biofuels are central to this effort.
Now that we’ve taken the important first step by adopting the Feinstein-Coburn Amendment and signaling the intent of this body to end federal subsidies for corn-based ethanol, I hope that we’ll also responsibly pay down our federal deficit and continue on a strong path forward toward the advanced biofuels that Delawareans are making a significant contribution toward making a reality.
Thank you very much, Mr. President, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
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