Just want to point out that corn is big business in Illinois. We grow quite a lot of it….

Kirk’s support was mostly from suburbia – he needs to firm up downstate support for his re-election, and – being a RINO – he thinks the best way to do this is to give the corn farmers a subsidy.

While I’m happy to see Obama’s seat in the hands of a Republican, I’d really rather find a better Republican if we can…

Mew

and yet the government decided to subsidize the heck out of it. It reminds us once again of why government should not try to pick winners and losers (here the winners are farmers and the ethanol producers and the losers are every other American).

What will it take to get through to these people. Alternate fuels is pork for lefty environmentalists.

The recent election was clearly about UNDOING what the left has done, not prolonging it.

there would only be one or two signatures on that letter…We need a better system to nominate our Presidential candidates.

but yup the Maverick has been for years the #1 foe of Ethanol.

I might add that conservatives have given him zero credit for this oppisition.

McCain is also a prime example of the cost of not being pro “Corn” as he has always got skunked in Corn rich Iowa. I might add that McCain did poorly in the corn & farm belt in 2008 as he ran far behind GOP numbers in Corn & Wheat country. McCain -on principal-has been the most anti farm subsidy senator for years.

Someone once said “Paris was worth a Mass” perhaps Corn is a similar issue. We will a lot of democrat help to kill this turkey.

So much for banning earmarks. My own opinion is that all agricultural subsidies should be ended.

I think its a little more simple than that:

Brownback-Kansas (corn growing state)
Grassley-Iowa (corn growing state)
Thune-SD (corn growing state, not a good move for his presidential aspirattions)
Johanns-cornhusker state
Bond-missouri thats kinda confusing
Kirk-Ill (large corn producing state plus Kirk doesnt care)

I think that is your mystery there.

Sarah Palin would not have done that…… haha.. that is my husband’s stock answer for everything these days. He has turned into quite a supporter that guy.

Thank you for taking the time to point these facts out. I hope others will stop by and take a few notes as I have.

Not only should corn ethanol be unsubsidized, so should HFCS.

He was my first campaign contribution ever. Never again. Whether it’s happened in the past or not, it’s so far past time to draw some lines in the sand it’s ridiculous. We don’t have the money, and they don’t have the right. Period.

It should come as no surprise that even Republican Senators vote for their constituents:

Chuck Grassley 1. Iowa …………….. 1, 769,000,000 bushels
Mark Kirk 2. Illinois ……………. 1,473,450,000 bushels
Mike Johanns 3. Nebraska ……….. 1,239,750,000 bushels
John Thune 7. South Dakota ……. 429,550,000 bushels
Sam Brownback 8. Kansas …………….. 418,950,000 bushels
Kit Bond 10. Missouri ……………. 285,000,000 bushels

In ten years, the price of corn has gone from ~2.35/bu to $5.84/bu, making their farmer voters happy.

Excepting Illinois, the Senators/voter are significantly greater in corn-growing states, hence farm subsidies. Sen McCain can afford to be against them: Arizona is not known for its farms, and is #37 in corn production.

But there are penalties: feed prices are higher and even Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper have recently re-discovered the benefits of sugar, as corn-syrup costs more.

Nonetheless, ethanol really IS a waste of corn (except, perhaps, in Bourbon). Until cellulose-based technology catches up with fermentation, corn will remain the primary source for ethanol.

” Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore reportedly has had a change of heart on ethanol, telling a conference on green energy in Europe that he only supported tax breaks for the alternative fuel to pander to farmers in his home state of Tennessee and the first-in-the-nation caucuses state of Iowa.

Speaking at a green energy business conference in Athens sponsored by Marfin Popular Bank, Gore said the lobbyists have wrongly kept alive the program he once touted.

“It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol,” Reuters quoted Gore saying of the U.S. policy that is about to come up for congressional review. “First-generation ethanol I think was a mistake. The energy conversion ratios are at best very small.” ‘

I wonder if Al’s reason for supporting it is the same as Thune’s…

Cut all subsidies; products should stand on their merits alone!!

The subject of ethanol is interesting precisely because there can be arguments for subsidy notwithstanding support for the free market in general. Some have argued that the practice of blending a proportion of ethanol in petrol perhaps helps to reduce the price to the motorist in the station forecourt filling their car. Some, of course, like myself until fairly recently, had not discovered that a kindly forewardthinking government and oil industry had taken this step on our behalf already. Nobody really knows what caused 55.000 motorists who bought from a particular batch of this fuel from a supermarket chain in England to suffer engine damage (compensated for by the company), but the ethanol mixture could have had something to do with it – or maybe not. This was about two years ago, and since then the subject has become interesting to me. Reading some of the archive material on RedState turned up a quote supplied by a contributor called kyle8, who said, “America – crucified on a cross of corn”!!