Industry lobbyists are also pressing for incentives for infrastructure that would help ethanol producers expand market share, but preserving a tariff on imported ethanol is not a priority.
All eyes are focused on a group of senators who have floated ethanol-related proposals in recent weeks, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) and Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), who have put forward amendments that would immediately repeal the tariff as well as a tax break for blending ethanol with motor fuel.
The Senate voted 73-to-27 Thursday in favor of that plan, but the measure appeared to have little chance of becoming law, not least because it may violate a constitutional requirement that bills for raising revenue originate in the House.