Reid Sets New Ethanol Vote For Thursday

Politico reports:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled for Thursday votes on amendments striking federal assistance for ethanol.

Reid late Wednesday announced separate votes for an amendment from Sen. Dianne Feinstein repealing a 45 cent per gallon tax credit to blend ethanol in gasoline — worth upward of $6 billion this year — and one from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) denying federal funds for ethanol blender pumps and storage facilities.

Both amendments would need 60 votes.

Feinstein's amendment — which would also strike a 54 cent per gallon tariff on imported ethanol — appears identical to one led by Sen. Tom Coburn that the Senate handily defeated Tuesday.

Democratic leaders successfully whipped opposition to the cloture motion on the Coburn amendment — which Feinstein and several other Democratic ethanol critics voted against in the end — due to the procedural moves in which Coburn secured that floor vote. Feinstein had initially co-sponsored Coburn's amendment. Coburn is co-sponsoring Feinstein's amendment.