Letter to the Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader and The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the Senate and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus

Letter

Letter to the Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader and The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the Senate and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus

BOND LEADS THE CHARGE TO PROTECT 23,000 WORKERS FROM GETTING PINK SLIPS

Senator Urges Congress to Extent Biodiesel-Renewable Fuels Tax Credit

U.S. Senator Kit Bond this week led the charge to protect 23,000 American workers from getting pink slips if Congress fails to act now to extend the biodiesel-renewable fuels tax credit. U.S. Senators Kit Bond (R-MO), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Mike Johanns (R-NE) wrote a letter urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) to extend the biodiesel and renewable tax credit, which is set to expire on December 31, 2009. The text of the letter is below:

The Honorable Harry Reid
Senate Majority Leader
Washington D.C. 20510

Dear Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader McConnell and Chairman Baucus:

Across our home states our constituents are pleading for Congress to act now before the biodiesel and renewable diesel tax credit sunsets on December 31, 2009. Failure to act will result in approximately 23,000 individuals that make a living, across all sectors of the biodiesel industry, losing their jobs.

The fuels industry is a high-volume, low-margin business, and especially in these hard economic times, price-conscious consumers will not purchase fuel that is more expensive than a comparable, competing product. The bottom line is that if Congress allows the biodiesel tax incentive to expire, the $1 per gallon tax credit will not be reflected in the price and biodiesel will not be able to compete in the market place.

Simply put, without the tax credit, biodiesel companies will stop production and on January 2, nearly every biodiesel plant will be sitting idle. The loss of these 23,000 "green jobs" will not only undercut our hope for energy independence, but harm our rural economies at a time when they can afford it least.

America cannot afford to lose these jobs. To achieve the energy security, environmental and economic benefits associated with domestic production and use of biodiesel, the biodiesel and renewable tax credit must be extended prior to its expiration on December 31, 2009.


Sincerely,

Senator Christopher Bond
Senator Chuck Grassley
Senator Sam Brownback
Senator Mike Johanns