Senator Coons praises the President’s new Advanced Manufacturing Partnership initiative

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) applauded the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) initiative to spur American manufacturing introduced today by President Obama in Pittsburgh. The initiative will encourage private industries, universities, and the federal government to work together to invest in emerging technologies that will create high-quality manufacturing jobs and enhance our global competitiveness.

“Americans must work together across all sectors to ensure that our country remains the leader in innovation,” Senator Coons said. “The federal government has a long history of partnering with industry and academia to invest in the research and development of innovative technologies. I applaud the President’s leadership and look forward to seeing the AMP in action.”

The President’s plan, which leverages existing programs and proposals, will invest more than $500 million to jumpstart this effort. Investments will be made in the following key areas:

building domestic manufacturing capabilities in critical national security industries;
reducing the time needed to make advanced materials used in manufacturing products;
establishing U.S. leadership in next-generation robotics;
increasing the energy efficiency of manufacturing processes;
and developing new technologies that will dramatically reduce the time required to design, build, and test manufactured goods.

Senator Coons strongly supports the AMP’s goal for developing infrastructure and establishing shared facilities that will allow small and mid-sized manufactures to innovate and compete. Since being sworn-in, Senator Coons has been a strong advocate for emerging and innovative companies, which were the emphasis of his first piece of legislation the Job Creation Through Innovation Act.

To expand our manufacturing sector, Senator Coons believes we must educate and train a new generation of manufacturers. Under the AMP, the Department of Energy will team up with the Ford Motor Company and the National Associations of Manufacturers to make use of the Department’s National Training & Education Resource to do just that.

“It is imperative that we provide opportunities to train a highly skilled workforce that will be able to keep developing groundbreaking innovations,” Senator Coons said. “It is the best way to help create high-paying middle-class jobs at home in America.”

The AMP’s Materials Genome Initiative would invest more than $100 million in research, training, and infrastructure to enable U.S. companies to discover, develop, manufacture, and deploy advanced materials at twice the speed that is possible today, and at a fraction of the cost.

“An investment in advanced manufacturing is an investment in Delaware’s economic future,” Senator Coons said.

Among the manufacturers included in the Partnership are Honeywell and Procter and Gamble. It is being co-led by Andrew Liveris, the chairman, president, and CEO of Dow Chemical, which also has a facility in Delaware.

Click below for more information about the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/06/24/president-obama-launches-advanced-manufacturing-partnership

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Senator Coons proposes Save As You Go mechanism for keeping both parties at the table in future deficit-reduction talks

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, today called on Congress and the White House to include the Save As You Go mechanism in its negotiations to ensure that Washington can’t run away from making the hard choices that need to be made on our dangerous annual deficits and staggering national debt.

“Under our current budget process, the path of least political resistance is to keep revenues low while offering a high level of services,” Senator Coons wrote today in an op-ed appearing in POLITICO. “Balanced budgets are fundamentally against the short-term interests of politicians from both parties. Our growing national debt is neither a Republican nor a Democratic problem, but rather a shared, structural problem. We need a way to keep both parties at the table.”

Save As You Go, or SAVEGO, is a backstop designed to ensure that, if Congress and the White House cannot save enough money each year to bring our budget back under control, their inaction will not lead to devastating economic consequences.

“To be successful, a real deficit deal will need to put everything on the table — from entitlements and revenue to domestic programs and Pentagon spending,” Senator Coons wrote. “Our long-term deficit is too big to address by simply raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans or by slashing domestic spending – the math just doesn’t add up. Each side will have to give some cherished ideological ground as part of a compromise solution, and SAVEGO is the mechanism—the way of harnessing each party’s aversion to its own political kryptonite—to keep both sides at the table.”

SAVEGO was developed by the Bipartisan Policy Center and has been endorsed by former Republican Senator and Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee Pete Domenici, former Clinton White House Budget Director, Dr. Alice Rivlin, along with several respected policy thinkers Dr. Joe Minarik, Dr. Bill Hoagland, Charles Konigsberg, Steve Bell. For more on how SAVEGO works, go to: http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/projects/economic-policy-project/savego

The full text of Senator Coons’ op-ed is included below and can be found here at POLITICO: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57640.html

Locking in Savings for a Sustainable Budget

By Chris Coons

Under our current budget process, the path of least political resistance is to keep revenues low while offering a high level of services. Balanced budgets are fundamentally against the short-term interests of politicians from both parties.

Our growing national debt is neither a Republican nor a Democratic problem but, rather, a shared, structural problem.

My experience in the private sector and after six years of tough budget balancing as a county executive taught me how difficult — and important — it is to have responsible budget processes in place.

To achieve long-term debt stabilization, we must enact a mechanism that would force Congress into a fiscal straitjacket and require savings each year. “Save As You Go,” or SAVEGO, is just that mechanism.

This approach to budgeting soberly acknowledges the gravity of our situation and uses automatic, annual processes to force difficult but necessary policy changes.

It is widely recognized that entitlement reform is radioactive for Democrats, while raising revenue is political kryptonite for Republicans. In essence, SAVEGO places both painful choices into a lead-lined vault that would automatically open any year Congress fails to achieve deficit reduction.

The mechanism is robust. SAVEGO would divide the budget into distinct categories, requiring savings in each.

First, predetermined caps on discretionary spending would be set for the next 10 years.

Second, savings targets would be enacted for entitlements and revenue. If Congress failed to meet its goals in any given year, a series of spending cuts and revenue increases would be triggered to make up the difference. Washington would be required to save hundreds of billions each year.

The consensus among economists and across several deficit study commissions is that at least $4 trillion in deficit reduction must be passed within a decade to achieve fiscal sustainability. SAVEGO is designed to guarantee we reach this goal.

In months of meetings, hearings and careful consideration of alternatives, I haven’t seen an enforcement mechanism that would help compel Congress to confront the problem better than this method.

SAVEGO closely mimics budget process reforms that helped produce balanced budgets in the 1990s. A bipartisan array of commentators, budget experts and former lawmakers — including New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, a Republican and former Budget Committee chairman, and Alice Rivlin, a Democrat and former White House budget director — agree SAVEGO has the potential to rein in deficits and restore fiscal sanity.

Perhaps most important, SAVEGO could lock in necessary savings without denying Congress the opportunity to make its own annual budget decisions.

To be successful, a real deficit deal will need to put everything on the table — from entitlements and revenue to domestic programs and Pentagon spending.

Our long-term deficit is too big to address simply by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans or by slashing domestic spending — the math just doesn’t add up. Each side will have to give some cherished ideological ground as part of a compromise, and SAVEGO is the mechanism — the way to harness each party’s aversion to its own political kryptonite — to keep both sides at the table.

Americans don’t hesitate to do what is necessary when faced with threats to the security of our nation. It should be no different when confronted by such a fundamental threat to our nation’s economy.

Of course, I would prefer that Congress had spent the past six months working on the comprehensive solution to our fiscal problems we need. But with Congress so divided and real deadlines for progress bearing down on us, I urge Vice President Joe Biden’s deficit working group — with or without the participation of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) or Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) — to make SAVEGO part of the negotiations.

Both Democrats and Republicans need to seriously consider a mechanism that can pass Congress, restore confidence to our markets and get us back on track to fiscal sanity.

It is often said that “decisions come with consequences.” But it is also true that indecision can come with consequences. At a time when every family, business and community in America has had to make tough choices and sacrifices to get through the recession, it’s long past time for Congress to join them.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) is a member of the Senate Budget Committee

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Delaware Congressional Delegation statement on NRG/Bluewater Wind deadline extension

WASHINGTON – Today, Sens. Tom Carper, Chris Coons and Rep. John Carney (all D-Del.) released the following statement on NRG/ Bluewater Wind’s agreement with Delmarva Power to extend their deadline for an additional three months.

“We welcome today’s announcement that NRG has reached an agreement with Delmarva Power to extend their deadline for an additional three months. We look forward to working closely with NRG, Governor Markell and the Obama Administration over the coming months to ensure that this project continues to move forward and that the federal government does all it can – in the form of loan guarantees and tax incentives – to bring this project to light. We believe we must hasten the day when we can harness the wind energy off our coasts to power millions of flex-fuel, plug-in hybrid vehicles like Fisker’s Karma and Nina that will be built right here in America and in our home state of Delaware. Developing clean, renewable energy in the form of offshore wind in Delaware is a great way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and promote clean, renewable energy.”

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Senators Carper, Coons, Lautenberg, Menendez, Schumer, Gillibrand and Casey introduce bill to protect and enhance the Delaware River Watershed

WASHINGTON – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and six of his Senate colleagues introduced legislation that would protect and enhance the Delaware River watershed. The Delaware River Basin Conservation Act of 2011 would strengthen not only the environmental health of the watershed, but also the economic impact the Delaware River watershed has on the area. It is estimated that over 200,000 jobs are directly tied to the watershed, and the Delaware River is home to the largest fresh water port in the U.S., the Delaware River Port Complex, which generates over $19 billion in annual economic activity. Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez (both D-N.J.), Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (both D-N.Y.), and Robert Casey (D-Penn.) are cosponsors of the measure.

The Delaware River Basin Conservation Act of 2011 would establish the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The program would be charged with instituting a partnership to identify, prioritize and implement restoration and protection efforts in the Delaware River basin. In particular, the bill requires the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to create and adopt a single, basin-wide plan that will guide restoration efforts and the implementation of the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program. During the plan’s development, U.S. Fish and Wildlife will work with other federal agencies as well as industry and community stakeholders in the basin to ensure that restoration plans and efforts that have been successful in the past are built upon and leveraged.

In addition to the creation of the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program, the bill also authorizes $5 million a year in competitive grant funding that will support local, on-the-ground, voluntary restoration projects led by nonprofits, universities, state and local governments, and others, with a maximum federal share of 75 percent.

“By investing in our watershed, we are investing in a resource that not only powers our environment and our local communities, but also fuels our economy,” said Sen. Carper. “The Delaware River watershed supports jobs at ports and in marine transportation, jobs in agriculture, hunting and fishing, jobs in recreation and parks and tourism, and jobs for folks who work every day to safeguard our water quality and water supply. This partnership supports our local economy by keeping our air, water and land clean, and protecting the overall health of this vital resource.”

“The Delaware River Basin is a precious asset that provides critical resources to Delawareans as well as habitat for a diverse array of wildlife,” said Sen. Coons. “The Basin is an incredible economic engine for the region, supporting jobs in the tourism, fishing, and maritime industries, which bolster revenue in the broader regional economy. This legislation will ensure that we take a comprehensive, long-term approach to managing the Basin. It is our responsibility to preserve the Delaware River Basin’s vibrant ecosystem for future generations.”

“The Delaware River Basin is a major source of drinking water, recreation, jobs and business opportunities for New Jerseyans,” said Sen. Lautenberg. “We need to protect our water from contamination and preserve the natural habitat along the river. The Delaware River Basin Conservation Act would create a common sense conservation effort to ensure valuable natural resources are protected for generations to come.”

“This bill will help protect water quality for millions and jobs for thousands throughout the region,” said Sen. Menendez. “The watershed is a great example of how sustainability and economic growth are essential partners, not competing interests.”

“The Delaware River is an important part of the heritage and economy of Upstate, as well as a source of clean drinking water for millions,” said Sen. Schumer. “Creating a partnership to coordinate conservation efforts will allow New York and other states to build on their successes and enhance water quality and the environment throughout the Delaware River watershed.”

“Delaware River Basin is a natural treasure – it helps make the Southern Tier and Catskills ideal communities to live, work, vacation, and raise a family,” said Sen. Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “With 17 million people relying on water from its watershed, the Delaware River Basin is not only critical to the local environment and economy, but the entire regions. During these tough economic times, the Delaware River Basin provides an opportunity to promote economic growth. I am committed to taking the steps needed to restore the Delaware River Basin and promote environmental protection and economic development for generations.”

“The Delaware River Basin provides 15 million people in Pennsylvania and surrounding states with water for drinking, agricultural and recreational use,” said Sen. Casey. “This legislation would provide assistance for habitat improvement, water quality enhancement and flood control to protect the watershed and the Pennsylvanians who rely on it.”

The Delaware River is not only a key resource for important habitat and recreational activity, but it is also a vital generator of economic activity for the region. It is estimated that the Delaware River watershed contributes over $10 billion in annual economic activity to the tri-state region of Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Delaware River is directly responsible for over 200,000 jobs and $4.3 billion in annual wages and indirectly responsible for an additional 230,000 jobs and $3.4 billion in annual wages. Overall, there are 2,900,000 jobs contained within the watershed and $149 billion in annual wages.

About the Delaware River Watershed

The Delaware River watershed stretches more than 300 miles from the Catskill Mountains in New York to the mouth of the Delaware Bay in Delaware. The land area of the watershed is 13,600 square miles, including nearly 1,000 miles in Delaware, and is home to more than eight million people. More than 15 million people depend on the Delaware River as a source of drinking water, including the populations of the first and fifth most populous cities in the U.S., New York and Philadelphia. The Delaware River watershed comprises 50 percent of the land area and 72 percent of the population of Delaware (and 26 percent of the land area and 20 percent of the population in New Jersey, and 7 percent of the land area and 30 percent of the population in Pennsylvania), and includes the tributaries of the Brandywine and Christina rivers, the C&D Canal, and the Delaware Bay.

Despite being such a critical resource for so many people, there is no federal program dedicated to the Delaware River like there are for other nationally-significant watersheds like the Chesapeake Bay and the Long Island Sound. The Delaware River Basin Conservation Program creates a voluntary restoration program led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to address this federal void and leverage and coordinate restoration efforts in the watershed.

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Senator Coons urges House to approve compromise on patent reform

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is calling on members of the House of Representatives to support the compromise contained in the manager’s amendment to H.R. 1249, the America Invents Act, to ensure that critical changes to our nation’s patent system are allowed to proceed.

At the heart of the issue is protecting the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from having the fees it collects on patent applications diverted to other agencies. “Fee diversion,” as it is known, has prevented PTO from hiring the personnel needed to dig out from under the backlog of 1.2 million patent applications. Currently, it takes three and one-half years for a patent to be approved.

“The reforms contained in the America Invents Act are critical to restoring American competitiveness and leadership in the global economy,” Senator Coons said. “This bill will create jobs by protecting and promoting American ingenuity. For years fee diversion has limited PTO’s ability to grow to meet the demands placed on it by the boundless creativity of American inventors. The America Invents Act ends fee diversion and gives PTO the tools it needs to keep pace.”

The Senate passed the America Invents Act with a 95-5 vote on March 8. The House began debate on the bill late Wednesday night.

“I urge my colleagues in the House to approve the manager’s amendment introduced by Chairman Smith and to vote to support H.R. 1249 as quickly as possible,” Senator Coons said Thursday. “I share Senator Leahy’s view that, by segregating fees collected by PTO into an account for use only by PTO, it sufficiently prevents further fee diversion. Every day we wait to implement the America Invents Act is another day American inventions go unconsidered, unpatented, and un-marketed. Our country urgently needs the jobs this bill can help create, and I urge the House to pass it.”

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Statement from Senator Coons on President’s remarks on direction in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tonight released the following statement in response to President Obama’s remarks on our nation’s path forward in Afghanistan:

“I welcome the President’s decision to redeploy 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of next summer, but am disappointed he did not announce a change in strategy from a counterinsurgency to a counterterrorism mission. Even with fewer troops, if we do not shift our strategy, we will be no closer to a truly secure and stable Afghanistan five years from now than we are today. This is why I am advocating for a strategic redirection that will require a smaller military footprint and allow us to invest the resources necessary to address current and future threats to American security.”

In an op-ed appearing last week in the News Journal, Senator Coons urged President Obama to make a “substantial” drawdown of U.S. forces the beginning of a new, targeted counterterrorism strategy that better balances our investment in Afghanistan with other threats to our national security such as those in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Iran.

“Though America has never shied away from taking the steps necessary to ensure its national security,” he wrote in the op-ed, “our current path in Afghanistan is unsustainable and is undermining our ability to respond to other emerging global threats.”

The Senator’s full op-ed can be read here: http://bit.ly/ivxrAE

Senator Coons presses federal agencies to protect American intellectual property

WASHINGTON — In a Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) pressed to strengthen the federal government’s efforts to enforce intellectual property rights, including their coordination across agencies as well as in the industry.

Senator Coons called protecting America’s intellectual property “one of the most important strategic challenges facing the United States.”

“If we are to sustain our competitiveness, if we are to continue to be the world’s innovation leader and a vibrant economy, we have to get this right.”

Senator Coons also pressed the Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice on the link between intellectual property theft and organized crime, asking what the Department was doing to fight it.

Copyright infringement and the sale of counterfeit goods cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs, in addition the billions of dollars in lost tax revenue for federal, state and local governments.

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Congressional delegation praises Fisker’s commitment to the First State as company announces it is ready to hire

WILMINGTON, Del. — U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, and U.S. Representative John Carney (all D-DE) today praised Fisker Automotive’s commitment to doing business in the First State after the company’s announcement that it will begin advertising locally this weekend for its Newport facility. Fisker has said it expects 40 electro-mechanical technicians to be hired by August and an additional 80 production employees to be hired between October 2011 and February 2012.

“Fisker Automotive represents a new era for automotive manufacturing in Delaware,” said Sen. Carper. “Today Fisker took another strong step forward by announcing the company will soon begin hiring, creating a significant number of jobs just when we need them most. We congratulate Fisker Automotive on the progress it is making at the former Boxwood Road Assembly plant. This partnership between federal and state government and Fisker Automotive is a good example of how collaboration can bolster our economy. I look forward to seeing Fisker Automotive thrive in Delaware as it creates a unique product that will thrill consumers and lead the way with the next generation of fuel efficient and low emission vehicles.”

“Fisker Automotive’s announcement today is a big step forward in our effort to once again make Delaware a manufacturing hub,” Senator Coons said. “Delaware’s highly skilled, experienced workforce is a perfect fit for the types of jobs Fisker will soon be offering. It is exciting to see that not only is the former General Motors plant being put back into use, but that it will be manufacturing environmentally friendly electric plug-in hybrids. I appreciate Fisker’s commitment to Delaware and its confidence in our quality workforce.”

“Today is an exciting milestone for both Fisker Automotive and Delaware workers,” said Congressman Carney. “We need to make things in America again and this announcement shows that emerging opportunities in green energy technology can help revive U.S. manufacturing and put Americans back to work. Fisker has already made tremendous progress on a new type of luxury, fuel efficient vehicle, and I’m confident that Delaware’s knowledgeable and well-trained workforce will contribute greatly to the company’s long-term success.”

Fisker Automotive purchased the former General Motors Boxwood Road Plant in 2010, and has spent several months rehabilitating the plant for mass-production of its “Project Nina” line of vehicles. The first mid-size premium sedan models are expected to roll off the production line at the end of 2012.

Founded in 2007, Fisker Automotive is an American car company that produces environmentally conscious electric vehicles with extended range.

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Senators Carper and Coons honor Delaware recipients of the Jefferson Awards for Public Service

WASHINGTON – Ahead of Tuesday evening’s National Jefferson Awards ceremony, Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons (both D-Del.) met with the Delaware recipients of the 2011 Jefferson Awards for Public Service this afternoon in the Capitol Visitors Center in Washington.

“Delawareans should be proud to have such outstanding winners representing our state for this year’s Jefferson Awards for Public Service,” Senator Carper said. “Service to others is one of the greatest gifts a person can give, and this year’s winners have served our state and nation well. They represent the very best of our community and join the ranks of some of our nation’s finest volunteers. I’d like to thank each of them for the selfless work that they do to make our community and society a better place.”

“This year’s recipients show what we mean when we say that Delaware is a ‘state of neighbors,’” Senator Coons said. “They are committed to building our communities, whether by assisting the elderly, volunteering at hospitals, or organizing fundraisers. It was a joy meeting these inspiring Delawareans and I want to thank them for their devotion to service. I hope the Jefferson Awards for Public Service will inspire even more Delawareans to give back to our great state.”

The recipients of the 2011 Jefferson Awards from the state level in Delaware are as follows:

– Sarah LaFave, who graduated from the University of Delaware in May – Losing her mother to breast cancer when she was only 14 years old, Sarah embarked on a mission to continue her mother’s quest for helping others. In the spring of 2009, while a nursing student at the University of Delaware, Sarah formed the group Lori’s Hands, named after her mother. The group is comprised of about a dozen fellow nursing students who reach out to provide basic help to those in need in the community. Lori’s Hands provides basic services such as grocery shopping, yard work, pet care, and household chores to the elderly and those with chronic illnesses who find it difficult to perform these duties on their own. Sarah’s focus is to establish chapters of Lori’s Hands in colleges and universities throughout the country.

– Sue Sokira, of Wilmington – As the 2011 winner of the Christiana Care Jefferson Award for Outstanding Community Service, Sue Sokira embodies the spirit of the Awards. When not at work as a transfer center representative in the Emergent Transport Access Center at Christiana Care, Sue works as a firefighter and EMT. Sue also raises money each year for the March of Dimes and for several 5K races, including the Tunnel to Towers run in memory of a New York City firefighter. During the holidays, she adopts a family and raises funds for supplies for our men and women in the military. And, if that isn’t enough, she convinced the Cranston Heights Fire Company to donate a used vehicle to a local family in need.

– Students from Padua Academy in Wilmington – Padua Academy’s Jefferson Awards Students in Action Team is recognized this year because of their commitment to engaging the student body in the school mission, which challenges students to dedicate their lives to leadership and service. The team made innovative improvements to the school’s service promotion and recognition programs. This year, the team expanded from a club to a multi-age Jefferson Awards homeroom providing opportunities for them to consult and collaborate on service projects. A monthly school assembly recognizes those who demonstrate extraordinary service; the school also initiated numerous service projects, raising awareness and money for domestic and international organizations, as well as their own school. Proceeds from this year’s “Zumbathon,” which attracted 400 participants, will provide scholarships for students who demonstrate extraordinary service.

Created in 1972 by the American Institute for Public Service, a Jefferson Award for Public Service is frequently called a “Nobel Prize for community and public service.” The award’s mission is to, “recognize, inspire and activate volunteerism and public service in communities, workplaces and schools across America.”

The Institute is holding its annual National Jefferson Awards ceremony on Tuesday night, honoring each of the recipients at the local level and announcing the 15 national award recipients whose lives, careers and volunteer activities embody the finest examples of public service.

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Statement from Senator Coons on Senate’s failure to reauthorize Economic Development Administration

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) released the following statement Tuesday in response to the Senate’s inability to overcome a Republican filibuster of a bill to reauthorize the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The bill, S. 782, failed by 49-51 vote.

“The Economic Development Administration has a strong track record of helping create jobs and grow America’s small businesses. It’s been an extraordinary investment — every $1 dollar in EDA grant funding has been shown to attract nearly $7 in private investment. Delaware alone has received more than $5 million in EDA investment over the last two years, helping create or retain more than 1,000 jobs in the First State.

“This bill would have grown our economy and created much-needed jobs, plain and simple. Instead, it became yet another casualty of the predictable and sad pattern of obstructionism that has ground this body to an unproductive standstill. The Economic Development Administration has broad bipartisan support, but today one party felt it more important to play partisan politics and refused to vote to move the bill forward.

“The amendment to end tax subsidies for corn-based ethanol, which I supported last week, was another casualty of this unfortunate vote. Ending the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit was important to Delaware’s poultry farmers and would have been an important step forward as we look for savings to help curb our nation’s staggering deficits.”

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