Sen Grassley Delays Brazil Envoy Nominee over Ethanol

The godfather of the corn ethanol lobby, Iowa Republican Senator Charles Grassley, threatened to hold up Senate approval of President Barack Obama’s choice to be U.S. ambassador to Brazil, career State Department official Thomas Shannon, because of Shannon’s comments suggesting he personally favored ending a U.S. tariff on ethanol imports.

“As a senator and as a presidential candidate, President Obama supported keeping the U.S. tariff on imported ethanol,” Senator Charles Grassley said in a statement. (Sort of, Obama did say in Indiana that sugarcane ethanol was far better than corn ethanol.) “Now, the president’s nominee for ambassador to Brazil says the removal of the tariff would be ‘beneficial.’ It’s important to know whether the administration’s position has changed before this nomination goes forward,” Grassley said. In what appears not to have been a mere coincidence, the RFA, one of the corn ethanol lobby groups, released a statement at the exact same moment.

Late on Tuesday evening, according to the Des Moines Register, the White House release a statement saying, “The Obama Administration is committed to developing our domestic biofuels industry, and to help the international market for biofuels grow. Biofuels are an important renewable energy resource, which will help diversify our energy matrix and reduce our dependence on imported oil.” The statement also said, “Regarding the U.S. tariff on Brazilian ethanol, the administration has no plans to change it.”

The tariff is also facing challenges in the Senate and in the House (see H.R.3187, H.R.2359, H.R.2956, and S.622). Also, other Obama nominees have called the tariff into question. David Sandalow, now Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Policy, has written on the need to phase out the ethanol import tariff. And just last week, the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum, which brings together top U.S. business and top government officials from each country, recommended the United States eliminate its tariff on ethanol imports.

Grassley, who comes from the major corn-producing state of Iowa, is one of Congress’ staunchest defenders of the U.S. tariff on ethanol, which Brazil, a major ethanol producer, would like to see removed. Obama has nominated Thomas Shannon, a career State Department official who is now assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, to be U.S. ambassador to Brazil.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted on Tuesday afternoon on Shannon’s nomination, which would normally set the stage for full Senate vote. But Senate rules allow an individual senator to delay Senate floor action on presidential nominations until their concerns are addressed — or until 60 votes are found in the 100-vote chamber to break the deadlock.

In a letter on Tuesday to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Grassley said comments Shannon made at his July 8 confirmation hearing “calls into question the current position of President Obama on the ethanol tariff.” “Please note that I expect a response to this letter before a confirmation vote on Mr. Shannon’s nomination takes place,” Grassley said.