Taxpayers for Common Sense’s new report “Understanding U.S. Corn Ethanol and Other Corn-Based Biofuels Subsidies” details how federal tax dollars have been wasted on the mature U.S. corn ethanol industry for more than 40 years.

President Biden and Congress are currently negotiating massive climate and infrastructure investments. The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing earlier this week on the CLEAN Future Act and decarbonizing the transportation sector. While the Act silently acknowledges that biofuels have so far failed to meet climate goals, on the other side of Capitol Hill, the Senate Finance Committee is proposing to bring wasteful biofuels subsidies back from the dead within its energy tax extender consolidation proposal.

Federal transportation fuel policy is at a turning point. Several hundred billion taxpayer dollars are being proposed for electric vehicles. The biofuels lobby is scrambling to find its place in this “clean energy” future.

The new report details how the industry has failed to build a bridge to non-food-based biofuels while increasing taxpayer costs in addition to climate and environmental risks. The federal Renewable Fuel Standard already mandates annual U.S. biofuel consumption.

Upon release of the report, TCS president Steve Ellis said, “The biofuels industry is attempting to sell corn ethanol as helpful for tackling climate change, but in reality, it’s likely to do more harm than good. Spending more on biofuels infrastructure projects, tax credits, or other duplicative subsidies – when the auto industry is clearly signaling a shift to electric vehicles – would simply waste more taxpayer dollars. This subsidy spigot must end. Instead, policymakers should invest in real, lasting climate solutions.” 

Read the full report here.