C ongress is back, and the GOP has promised to. Most of ADM's fortunes come from ethanol, produced through the distillation of corn into grain alcohol.
Ethanol can either be mixed with gasoline to yield gasohol or be turned into gin.
Over the years, ethanol has benefited from a host of taxpayer supports. The Carter administration provided hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidized loans to a dozen gasohol producers and imposed a tariff on imported ethanol. And the Clinton administration ordered, on dubious environmental grounds, inclusion of small amounts of ethanol in gasoline. Ethanol is a poor energy source, costing more than twice as much as the wholesale price of gasoline to produce. Nor is gasohol environment-friendly.