The food shortages worldwide, and in the US, have triggered a response in the US Congress. Tax breaks for corn-based ethanol doesn't really help anyone other than Cargill and ADM.
Key members of the House and Senate reached tentative agreement on a plan to increase by more than $10 billion the spending on nutrition programs as part of a broader push to finish a bill to overhaul federal farm policy. Lawmakers also are proposing to scale back an existing tax credit that subsidizes production of corn-based ethanol.
A final agreement on the broad bill could be unveiled as early as Monday. Congressional aides cautioned that some details could still shift in the days ahead. But efforts to wrap up the massive legislation, which would parcel out more than $280 billion in the next five years for everything from school lunches to subsidies for grain production, clearly gained momentum Friday in a series of closed-door meetings on Capitol Hill.
Lawmakers dickering over details of the bill zeroed in on a plan to provide for a big increase in nutrition programs, especially assistance for low-income families, congressional aides said. The planned $10.4 billion increase would be paid for by raising Customs user fees. Such fees are assessed at the border on imports from abroad.
Negotiators also appear to have reached tentative agreement on a $1.6 billion package of tax cuts, providing a range of incentives to promote conservation and investment in farm country. The package includes a new preference to promote development of next-generation biofuels, which would be made from wood chips, switch grass and agricultural waste, instead of food grains.
To pay for the tax cuts, lawmakers are proposing to scale back an existing tax credit that subsidizes production of corn-based ethanol, among other things.
[From Farm-Bill Pact Adds $10 Billion for Nutrition - WSJ.com]
and this statement:
translates into - if there are lots of complaints from certain lobbyists, then changes are still possible. Your subsidies might survive, just take me to dinner on Saturday.
Congressional aides said details of the tax provisions still had to be scrubbed over the weekend and could require further negotiation Monday among lawmakers, including House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.) and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.).
"The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" (Michael Pollan)
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Where is the rice? We ain't got none ;(