John McCain gives ethanol blender pump subsidies a big 'no'

Back in April, the Obama administration announced that it will offer incentives to gasoline stations that install E85 (a fuel consisting of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline) blender pumps. This proposal, according to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, was put forth in an effort to get 10,000 additional E85 pumps installed nationwide.
However, Obama's scheme has met resistance in the form of Senator John McCain (R-AZ). On Tuesday, McCain pitched an amendment to an agriculture appropriations bill that would prevent the government from subsidizing blender pumps. Brian Rogers, a spokesman for McCain, stated:

In these tight economic times, when we are asking families to do more with less, we should not be subsidizing gas pumps at retail gas stations. The ethanol industry needs to prove it can prosper on its own and quit asking for taxpayer handouts.

Biofuel proponent Vinod Khosla most certainly agrees. And it's no surprise that McCain doesn't support subsidizing blender pumps. He did, after all, call ethanol a "joke."