Submitted by Tom on Sat, 2010-01-09 17:08
In early December, Tom Latham voted against the Tax Extender's Act of 2009, which was needed to keep biodiesel subsidies, which are critical to help Iowa's farmers and maintain the bioenergy industry in Iowa. Even Chuck Grassley is for it, though it has not yet come to a vote in the Senate. According to Lynda Waddington of the Iowa Independent, "Iowa’s three Democratic representatives in the U.S. House have penned a letter to the chamber’s leadership requesting that a 2010 renewal of the biodiesel tax credit be made a priority." Besides voting against the act, Latham refused to join his Iowa colleagues in penning the letter to the leadership.
From Lynda Waddington's article:
Sens. Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin both support the extension of the tax credit, which provides biodiesel producers with a $1 per gallon tax credit, but do not agree on why the 50-provision tax extenders bill has not already been approved by the Senate. Each blames stalling tactics and issue jockeying by members of the other political party for the failure to obtain passage, and both have called for a retroactive approval of the incentive once the Senate resumes work this month.
“[R]etroactively doesn’t help the U.S. biodiesel market from grinding to a halt on Jan. 1, 2010, because, without the incentive, biodiesel will cost much more than petroleum diesel,” Grassley said during a December floor statement.
The U.S. House approved HR 4213, the Tax Extenders Act of 2009, in early December by a mostly party-line vote of 241 to 181. While the Democratic members of Iowa’s delegation voted in favor of the measure, Iowa’s Republican representatives — Steve King and Tom Latham — voted against it. That piece of legislation extended the biodiesel incentive for one year.
The incentives, according to Braley, are “crucial” if Iowa wishes to remain at the forefront of biodiesel production. Loebsack believes that continuing the tax credit can help Iowa families, already struggling, to obtain jobs.
Boswell noted that “biodiesel plants in my district are already struggling during these difficult times” and that the credit “is an important tool to maintaining and creating jobs in states like Iowa that produce biodiesel and to help sustain an industry that plays a critical role in the economy, environment and fuel supply.”