Tom Coburn has had exactly 16 signatures — all Republican — lined up for a cloture vote. Coburn forces Tuesday ethanol vote

Sen. Tom Coburn has pulled the trigger and is forcing a long-sought vote on an amendment repealing billions in annual tax incentives for ethanol.

The Senate will vote Tuesday afternoon on Coburn’s motion limiting debate on his amendment that would do away with the 45 cent blender tax credit for ethanol — worth about $6 billion this year — and the 54 cent tariff on imported ethanol.


Coburn didn’t inform either Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid or Minority Leader Mitch McConnell before he made his move, appearing to catch both completely off guard.

“He was not able to give a heads up to either Reid or McConnell,” Coburn spokesman John Hart said. “There was no agreement. Coburn just did this.”

It is the prerogative of any senator to file a cloture motion to file a vote on an amendment as long as there are 16 signatures. But it is more customary for senators to force a vote by filing a motion to suspend the rules — which requires a higher 67-vote threshold than the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

The Oklahoma Republican has had exactly 16 signatures — all Republican — lined up for a cloture vote on his amendment in his back pocket for a while and thought of using it earlier.

He had filed a motion to suspend the rules during the small-business bill debate, but the Senate never voted on it.

He instead decided to pull the trigger on pending economic development legislation on the floor as a way to get around multiple holds on his amendment by members in both parties and bypass both Reid and McConnell, who are required to respect objections by their party colleagues.

“It’s a very direct usurping of their authority,” Hart said. “It was actually very well executed by our guys.”

"He definitely was laying in wait," said Chris Thorne, a spokesman for the pro-ethanol Growth Energy. "It was an ambush."

Thorne said ethanol backers will be pointing out that the vote comes as Venezuela and Iran this week helped OPEC vote to keep production where it is, despite a move by Saudi Arabia and others to increase production.

Coburn has claimed he has 60 votes. “We’re cautiously optimistic,” Hart said.

Regardless of whether the underlining economic development legislation gets through the Senate and House and to the president’s desk, a vote on Coburn’s amendment could be a major symbolic vote.

Ethanol backers have been looking to try to stave off such moves by working behind the scenes on ways to quickly move off of the blender tax credit and transition to federal assistance for blender pumps and other infrastructure to grow the market base for ethanol and other biofuels.

A group of Midwestern senators led by Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) have introduced a bill reducing the blender credit and linking it to the price of crude oil over the next five years.

And Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) is leading an effort aimed at speeding the end of the blender tax credit and switching over to infrastructure assistance as an acknowledgement that the argument to continue federal money for ethanol is wearing thin amid efforts to cut into the deficit.

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has filed an amendment to the economic development bill that would prevent federal funds being used for ethanol blender pumps.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 8:33 p.m. on June 9, 2011.



CORRECTION: Sen. Coburn filed a motion to suspend the rules during the small-business bill debate, but the Senate never voted on it. A previous version had incorrect information.

CORRECTION: Corrected by: Alex Byers @ 06/10/2011 11:13 AM CORRECTION: Sen. Coburn filed a motion to suspend the rules during the small-business bill debate, but the Senate never voted on it. A previous version had incorrect information.