By Stewart Doan
© Copyright Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc.
Washington, April 2 – Echoing Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) who has called on Congress to reauthorize the biodiesel tax credit which expired last December, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) points out that the delay has forced Renewable Energy Group to idle its facilities in Newton and Ralston, Iowa, laying off 22 employees. To read Lincoln’s letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), go to: www.agri-pulse.com/20100402SD1.asp.
Grassley commented that “Pelosi and Reid were playing with fire when they played politics with the biodiesel tax credit. They knew 17 months ago that this tax credit needed to be extended. Instead they made it a part of the political mix for the last year by only including it with controversial provisions. In February, Senator Baucus and I had a bipartisan solution that would have given biodiesel producers a chance to make it through the political storm. Unfortunately, the Democrat leadership reneged on our effort and biodiesel workers are now getting Pelosi’s pink slips. It sounds more and more like we were sold a bill of goods when the current leadership said they wanted to turn the economy around with green jobs. Instead, they are focused on winning political points while unemployment stands at 9.7 percent. It’s time to take action to reduce job losses rather than increase them.”
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