Oklahoma Republican Frank Lucas, who is poised to become chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, has warned some groups that being "anti-ethanol" would be bad politically, said Jon Doggett, vice president for public policy at the National Corn Growers Association, an ethanol trade group in Washington.
"He's told the livestock groups and others in this alliance of environmentalists, food manufacturers and livestock groups that to be anti-ethanol is not going to be viewed well in the new Congress," Doggett said. "I think that will hopefully change some of the debate that we've had. That will help a lot."
Republicans won control of the House of Representatives Tuesday night in landslide mid-term elections, giving them control of the committees and the political agenda in the lower chamber of Congress.
The House Agriculture Committee holds dominion over the national farms bill. The last farms bill, passed in 2008, included hundreds of millions of dollars in loan guarantees and research grants for biorefineries to develop biofuels and advanced biofuels.
But many of the funding provisions in the 2008 farms bill expire in October 2012, which would allow the respective chairmen of the House and Senate agriculture committees to lead the crafting of the new farms bill going into a critical round of elections in 2012.
A Lucas spokesman did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. Speaking in an interview with the Radio Oklahoma Network last month, Lucas said he planned to spend much of 2011 preparing a farms bill for consideration in 2012.
SEEKING EXTENSION OF TAX CREDIT
Ethanol trade groups, including the NCGA, are seeking an extension of the valuable Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit -- or blenders tax credit, which pays blenders 45 cents for each gallon of ethanol they mix with their gasoline.
But a coalition of environmental, oil and food groups have pointed to a Congressional Budget Office study from July that found the tax credit to be unnecessary, given a concurrent fuels consumption mandate that requires blenders nationwide to use 36 billion gallons of ethanol in their blends,
annually, starting in 2022.
Senator Blanche Lincoln, the Arkansas Democrat who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, lost her re-election bid Tuesday, opening her seat atop the committee to a new Democrat. Democrats lost seats in the Senate, but maintained a slim majority.
In terms of seniority, the first four Democrats in line to succeed Lincoln atop the committee hold powerful chairmanships they would have to give up in order to take over the committee.
Iowa Senator Tom Harkin chairs the Senate Health Committee, Vermont Senator Patrick J. Leahy chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad chairs the Senate Budget Committee and Montana Democrat Max Baucus chairs the Senate Finance Committee.
Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow is next in line to take over the committee and has told media outlets she would take the chairmanship if offered the seat. A Stabenow spokesman did not return a request for comment Wednesday.
Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, a moderate to conservative Democrat who has bucked his party on a few key votes, has also been mentioned as a possible pick to lead the committee, as he is next in seniority on the committee after Stabenow.
"Senator Nelson has said it's too early to suggest or speculate who will take over the committee," said Jake Thompson, Nelson spokesman.
