House vote on biodiesel tax credit could come today

For those of us who use/produce/sell/are fond of biodiesel, 2010 has been frustrating to say the least. The $1 per gallon biodiesel tax credit expired in late December 2009, and it wasn't too long after that local biodiesel pumps across the country started drying up. Reinstatement of the tax credit has been dangled in front of the biodiesel industry time and time and time again in the 145 days since it expired. So we're not holding our breath that today could be the day, despite assurances from a top member of the house.

"We will have enough votes," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) on Tuesday, in response to the House's plans to vote on $190 billion in new spending, a very small part of which goes to reinstate the credit. The bill, which is really more of a jobs bill, is called the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act. Itl includes $1 billion for summer jobs for teens whose jobless rate is probably the nation's worst at 25.4 percent and $47 billion to extend unemployment insurance to nearly two full years. According to John Davis of Domestic Fuel, 23,000 biodiesel-related jobs have been lost or are in peril since the credit expired in December. So perhaps it's fitting that a jobs bill could be the thing to bring the credit back.

Hoyer is hopeful that Republicans will join and give their support for the spending, however many Republicans have been very critical of the amount of spending done by the Obama administration. Of course, many Republicans come from agricultural states where biodiesel is quite popular.

[Source: Talk Radio News Service | Image: jeffschwartz – C.C. 2.0]