I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3187 

To reduce and eliminate the tax credit for alcohol fuel mixtures and the 

tariff on imported ethanol. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 13, 2009 

Mr. CROWLEY (for himself, Mrs. BONO MACK, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. 

THOMPSON of California, Mr. SHADEGG, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. GOODLATTE, 

Mr. STARK, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. MAFFEI, and Mr. 

MEEKS of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To reduce and eliminate the tax credit for alcohol fuel 

mixtures and the tariff on imported ethanol. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Affordable Food and 

5 Fuel for America Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Volumetric Excise Tax Credit was cre9 ated to encourage gasoline refiners to blend domestimstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 cally produced corn ethanol into the Nation’s gaso2 line supplies. 

3 (2) The 54-cent temporary tariff on imported 

4 ethanol was created to encourage the development of 

5 a domestic grain ethanol industry. 

6 (3) Domestic corn ethanol production has in7 creased five-fold since 2000 to more than 

8 9,000,000,000 gallons of corn ethanol produced at 

9 more than 150 facilities. 

10 (4) Domestic corn ethanol production will soon 

11 exceed 12,000,000,000 gallons, diverting at least 

12 one-third of the Nation’s corn supply from food and 

13 feed to fuel. 

14 (5) Federal ethanol mandates require gasoline 

15 refiners to blend 15,000,000,000 gallons of ethanol 

16 into gasoline supplies by 2015. 

17 (6) The United States is now the world’s larg18 est producer of ethanol and our domestic corn eth19 anol industry is no longer in need of tax subsidies 

20 or tariffs. 

21 (7) In combination, the rapid growth of the 

22 corn ethanol industry and Federal ethanol mandates 

23 has made the tax credit for corn ethanol and tariff 

24 obsolete. 

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1 (8) Scarce Federal resources should be dedi2 cated to the development of new and emerging 

3 sources of renewable energy, including biomass fuels 

4 that meet environmental goals. 

5 SEC. 3. REDUCTION OF INCOME TAX CREDIT FOR ALCOHOL 

6 USED AS A FUEL. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The table in section 40(h)(2) of 

8 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

9 the last row and inserting the following new rows: 

2009 ............................................ 28 cents 22 cents

2010 ............................................ 21 cents 16 cents

2011 ............................................ 16 cents 12 cents

2012 ............................................ 11 cents 9 cents

2013 ............................................ 7 cents 6 cents

2014 ............................................ 0 0. 

10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

11 (1) EXTENSION OF CREDIT.—Section 40(e)(1) 

12 of such Code is amended— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘2010’’ in subparagraph 

14 (A) and inserting ‘‘2013,’’, and 

15 (B) by striking ‘‘2011’’ in subparagraph 

16 (B) and inserting ‘‘2014’’. 

17 (2) REPEAL OF DELAYED REDUCTION.—Section 

18 40(h) of such Code is amended by striking para19 graph (3). 

20 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

21 this section shall apply to alcohol produced, and sold or 

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1 used, in taxable years beginning after the date of the en2 actment of this Act. 

3 SEC. 4. REDUCTION OF EXCISE TAX CREDIT FOR ALCOHOL 

4 FUEL MIXTURES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6426(b)(2)(A) of the In6 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

7 ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (i), by striking clause (ii), and 

8 by inserting after clause (i) the following new clauses: 

9 ‘‘(ii) in the case of calendar year 

10 2009, 28 cents, 

11 ‘‘(iii) in the case of calendar year 

12 2010, 21 cents, 

13 ‘‘(iv) in the case of calendar year 

14 2011, 16 cents, 

15 ‘‘(v) in the case of calendar year 

16 2012, 11 cents, 

17 ‘‘(vi) in the case of calendar year 

18 2013, 7 cents, and 

19 ‘‘(vii) in the case of calendar year 

20 2014 and thereafter, zero cents.’’. 

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

22 (1) Section 6426(b) of such Code is amended— 

23 (A) by striking subparagraph (C) of para24 graph (2), and 

25 (B) by striking paragraph (6). 

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1 (2) Section 6427(e)(5)(A) of such Code is 

2 amended by striking ‘‘2010’’ and inserting ‘‘2013’’. 

3 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this section shall apply to fuel sold or used after the date 

5 of the enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 5. REDUCTION AND ELIMINATION OF TARIFFS ON 

7 ETHANOL. 

8 (a) REDUCTION OF TEMPORARY TARIFF DUTY ON

9 IMPORTED ETHANOL.— 

10 (1) CALENDAR YEAR 2009.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Heading 9901.00.50 of 

12 Subchapter 1 of Chapter 99 of the Harmonized 

13 Tariff Schedule of the United States is amend14 ed by striking ‘‘14.27¢’’ each place it appears 

15 and inserting ‘‘8¢’’. 

16 (B) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment 

17 made by subparagraph (A) shall apply to goods 

18 entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for con19 sumption, on or after January 1, 2009, and be20 fore January 1, 2010. 

21 (C) RETROACTIVE APPLICATION.—Not22 withstanding section 514 of the Tariff Act of 

23 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1514) or any other provision 

24 of law, upon proper request filed with the Bu25 reau of Customs and Border Protection before 

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1 the 90th day after the date of the enactment of 

2 this Act, any entry, or withdrawal from ware3 house for consumption, of any good— 

4 (i) that was made on or after January 

5 1, 2009 and before the date of the enact6 ment of this Act; and 

7 (ii) with respect to which there would 

8 have been a lower rate of duty if the 

9 amendment made by this subsection ap10 plied to such entry, or withdrawal, shall be 

11 liquidated or reliquidated as if such 

12 amendment applied to such entry or with13 drawal. 

14 (2) CALENDAR YEAR 2010.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—Such heading is 

16 amended by striking ‘‘14.8¢’’ each place it ap17 pears and inserting ‘‘6¢’’. 

18 (B) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment 

19 made by subparagraph (A) shall apply to goods 

20 entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for con21 sumption, on or after January 1, 2010, and be22 fore January 1, 2011. 

23 (3) CALENDAR YEAR 2011.— 

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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Such heading is 

2 amended by striking ‘‘11.1¢’’ each place it ap3 pears and inserting ‘‘4¢’’. 

4 (B) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment 

5 made by subparagraph (A) shall apply to goods 

6 entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for con7 sumption, on or after January 1, 2011, and be8 fore January 1, 2012. 

9 (4) CALENDAR YEAR 2012.— 

10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Such heading is 

11 amended by striking ‘‘8.5¢’’ each place it ap12 pears and inserting ‘‘3¢’’. 

13 (B) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment 

14 made by subparagraph (A) shall apply to goods 

15 entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for con16 sumption, on or after January 1, 2012, and be17 fore January 1, 2013. 

18 (5) CALENDAR YEAR 2013.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Such heading is 

20 amended by striking ‘‘5.8¢’’ each place it ap21 pears and inserting ‘‘2¢’’. 

22 (B) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment 

23 made by subparagraph (A) shall apply to goods 

24 entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for conmstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 sumption, on or after January 1, 2013, and be2 fore January 1, 2014. 

3 (b) DUTY-FREE TREATMENT BEGINNING IN 2014.— 

4 (1) ADDITION OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS SUB5 CHAPTER.—Chapter 98 of the Harmonized Tariff 

6 Schedule is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing new subchapter: 

‘‘Subchapter XXIII 

Alternative Fuels 

Heading/ 

Subheading 

Article Description 

Rates of Duty 

1 

2 

General Special 

9823.01.01 Ethyl alcohol (provided for in subheadings 

2207.10.60 and 2207.20) or any mixture 

containing such ethyl alcohol (provided for 

in heading 2710 or 3824) if such ethyl alcohol or mixture is to be used as a fuel or 

in producing a mixture of gasoline and alcohol, a mixture of a special fuel and alcohol, or any other mixture to be used as fuel 

(including motor fuel provided for in subheading 2710.11.15, 2710.19.15 or 

2710.19.21), or is suitable for any such 

uses .............................................................. Free Free 20%’’. 

8 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Subchapter I 

9 of chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule is 

10 amended— 

11 (A) by striking heading 9901.00.50; and 

12 (B) by striking U.S. notes 2 and 3. 

13 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

14 by this subsection shall apply with respect to goods 

15 entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consump16 tion, on or after January 1, 2014. 

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1 SEC. 6. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the organization ‘‘Feeding America’’ for4 merly known as America’s Second Harvest, issued 

5 the results of a national study on hunger and pov6 erty in America and found that for 1 in 8 Americans 

7 hunger is a reality, that the numbers of hungry 

8 Americans is on the rise, and 37.3 million people 

9 lived in poverty, including over 7.6 million families, 

10 3.6 million seniors, and over 13.3 million children 

11 under the age of 18; 

12 (2) the Department of Agriculture, Economic 

13 Research Service, found that an estimated 35.5 mil14 lion Americans are food insecure, meaning their ac15 cess to enough food is limited by a lack of money 

16 and other resources; 

17 (3) the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities 

18 reports that ‘‘the current downturn is likely to cause 

19 significant increases both in the number of Ameri20 cans who are poor and the number living in ‘deep 

21 poverty,’ with incomes below half of the poverty line. 

22 Because this recession is likely to be deep and the 

23 government safety net for very poor families who 

24 lack jobs has weakened significantly in recent years, 

25 increases in deep poverty in this recession are likely 

26 to be severe’’; 

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1 (4) World Hunger Year (WHY), a non-profit 

2 organization which operates a national hunger hot3 line with funding from the Department of Agri4 culture, has experienced a significant increase in 

5 calls for food assistance or information about where 

6 to find food, shelter, child-care, or job-finding assist7 ance; and 

8 (5) the production of cellulosic and advanced 

9 biofuels in the United States will assist the Nation 

10 in becoming less vulnerable to foreign supplies of oil, 

11 will create a significant number of jobs, and could 

12 achieve significant reductions in the generation of 

13 greenhouse gas emissions as determined by several 

14 recent studies. 

15 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con16 gress that the savings achieved under this Act should be 

17 used to combat hunger in the United States and to develop 

18 domestic supplies of cellulosic and advanced biofuels by 

19 being used to— 

20 (1) increase the assistance provided for Federal 

21 nutrition programs administered by the Secretary of 

22 Agriculture, including school nutrition programs; 

23 (2) provide assistance to non-profit organiza24 tions dedicated to responding to the needs of low-in25 come families in the United States; and 

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1 (3) provide loan guarantees or grants to compa2 nies ready to construct cellulosic and advanced 

3 biofuel processing facilities in the United States. 

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