Grassley Plants Seeds for Corporate Cronyism

Science has proven that ethanol is bad for your engine.   Ethanol creates more smog than using regular gasoline.  Ethanol reduces the fuel efficiency of your car and the government’s fuel mandates are hurting the poor as farmers make more money converting food to fuel than growing food to feed people.  There is not much to love about ethanol, unless you are the Senator from Iowa.

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Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is is leading other farm state Senators to require that the Environmental Protection Agency actually increase its 2016 Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). Grassley is upset that in the manner in which EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy crafted the new RFS and he wants the government mandate strengthened.

It’s bad enough that GOP Senators are encouraging the out-of-control EPA to force the destruction of your engine and the environment, but they are also want to use the tax-code to subsidize farmers for growing biofuels.  The so-called “Extenders” bill is coming to Congress.  That’s the special interest tax provisions added to the tax code every year to benefit favored industries.  Despite an agreement that the wind energy tax credit would never be renewed again this year, Grassley is pushing to restore an expired tax credit for wind and biofuels as part of this year’s bill.

As we have seen from [mc_name name=’Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’C001098′ ]’s speech outing the Senate Leadership, we appear to be a government run and controlled by special lobbyists. If Grassley is successful in added these provisions into law, lobbyists for dozens of corporations who have given millions to politicians will be popping champaign bottles.  Those include:

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Name of Political Action Committee

Political Donations, as of 3/7/2014

American Farm Bureau Federation & state organizations

$1,818,392

Archer Daniels Midland

$760,450

Biotechnology Industry Organization

$628,249

Cargill Inc

$686,500

National Corn Growers Association

$550,666

Poet LLC

$388,900

AG Processing

$342,500

Growth Energy

$253,900

National Farmers Union

$169,750

Illinois Corn Growers Association

$159,400

Louis Dreyfus Commodities/Group

$104,700

Illinois Agricultural Association

$72,806

Minnesota Corn Growers Association

$59,550

Magellan Midstream Partners

$54,750

National Biodiesel Board

$32,500

Golden Grain Energy

$21,600

Iowa Renewable Fuels Association

$18,000

Missouri Renewable Fuels Association

$17,200

Renewable Fuels PAC

$12,250

Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy

$2,250

Total

$6,154,313

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