Unanimous Consent Request -H.R. 4853

Floor Speech

Mr. GRASSLEY. As the majority struggles in an attempt to pass another massive deficit spending bill through Congress, biodiesel plants in Iowa and 42 other States continue to lay off workers because the Democratic-controlled Congress has not extended the biodiesel tax credit. This is a simple and noncontroversial tax extension that will likely reinstate more than 20,000 jobs nationwide and about 2,000 jobs in my State of Iowa alone.

These jobs have fallen victim to a tactic used by the Democratic leadership to hold this popular and noncontroversial tax provision hostage to out-of-control deficit spending here in Washington.

This past February I worked out a bipartisan compromise with Chairman Baucus to extend the expired tax provisions, including the biodiesel tax credit. However, the Senate majority leader decided to put partisanship ahead of job security for thousands of workers, and that compromise did not move ahead.

So I am here again to try to put thousands of Americans back to work producing a very clean and renewable fuel. Therefore, I ask unanimous consent to proceed to H.R. 4853; that my substitute, which contains a 1-year extension of the biodiesel and renewable diesel tax credits for all of the year 2010, be agreed to, and the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed.

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