Hey Iowans, Clinton's Rural Co-Chair Not So Fond Of Ethanol Subsidies
Without fanfare earlier this month, Hillary Clinton's campaign named Joy Philippi, the immediate past president of the National Pork Producers Council, co-chair of 'Rural Americans for Hillary.'
What the campaign failed to mention is that Philippi has made her opposition to ethanol subsidies quite clear in the past. Her position could miff those Iowa farmers who have seen ethanol production spark stagnant rural economies.
Here's Philippi, a fourth generation Nebraska pork, soybean and corn farmer, in the Christian Science Monitor in a March 28 article titled, "In corn belt, ethanol boom a bust for ranchers" ...
That's one reason livestock associations like the National Pork Producers Council are lobbying for some changes. For starters, they'd like a level playing field. Now, the ethanol industry enjoys a 51-cent per gallon tax credit and a 54-cent tariff on imported ethanol – both of which the council is pushing to have expire, at the end of 2010 and 2008, respectively.
"We're subsidizing the corn ethanol production, and we don't need to do that," says Joy Philippi, the immediate past president of the council. "We believe in free trade."
She'd also like to see more good acreage released from the Conservation Reserve Program to grow corn. "I don't fault the corn growers for wanting the $4 corn," Ms. Philippi says. "I'm a corn grower; I like it, too. But if we skew the whole balance in the economy, it hurts everybody."
And here she is in the May 2007 Farm Journal, advocating that the federal government expire ethanol subsidies:
Pork producer Joy Philippi truly wants the nation to wean itself from foreign oil. She revels in rural economic activity spurred by biofuels. She even thinks that government subsidies helped grow the ethanol industry.
But, enough is enough. The Bruning, Neb., producer's pork production costs have jumped $30 per head in less than a year thanks to $4 corn. Now, she wants the government to expire ethanol subsidies that she says unfairly support competition for corn.
"Since world crude oil prices hit $60 a barrel, the ethanol industry has not needed financial support," explains Philippi, who is the immediate past president of the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC).
Philippi is not alone in thinking ethanol gets special treatment. NPPC, National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), National Chicken Council (NCC) and National Turkey Federation have asked Congress to end ethanol subsidies. Their common contention is the adoption of corn-based ethanol has been too swift, and government subsidies are creating unfair market competition for corn, putting them at a disadvantage.
This is Hillary's rural co-chair? How has this not gotten more attention in Iowa?
(JENNIFER SKALKA)
Maybe because she's right. And I don't say that because I'm a Clinton supporter: to the contrary.
Another load of pure unadulterated crap from Ms. Skalka via the CSM? For the love of Pete, Hillary is running a presidential campaign, not the Soviet politburo! Are you implaying that everbody in a campaign the employs thousands, have to toe the ideological line? What do I care about the positions of a particular member of the campaign, no matter how lofty his place in the organization? I am not voting for him. I am intrested in the positions of the candiate. It is my view that the members of the press, a viral contagion lower than pond scum, are doing a great disservice to this contry by focusing on this incredibly inane minutia while ignoring the real momentous issues that confront us. Perhaps, just perhaps, if these folks had been as critical, going after the administration claims prior to the war in Iraq, we would not be where we are now! But that require work, hard work. Shame on you Ms. Skalka, and shame on the Hotloneblog!!!
ethonal is not gunna work