Peterson wants to extend biofuels tax credit

Days after the Senate voted on a largely symbolic measure to repeal ethanol subsidies that cost the government $6 billion a year, Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson helped introduce a bill extending the $1.00 per gallon biodiesel tax credit. Peterson, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said on Tuesday that the credit is "vital to creating jobs and growing our rural economies." The Biodiesel Tax Incentive Reform and Extension Act would extend the expiring tax credit to 2014. Prospects for the bill are unclear. Energy subsidies from oil to ethanol are getting heightened scrutiny as Congress grapples with a debt limit vote later this summer. While few expect subsidies for ethanol and other biofuels to go away anytime soon, some lawmakers are looking for ways to trim them back, if not eliminate them. At this point, the Senate measure to repeal ethanol subsidies still has no companion bill in the House.