A statement from 25x'25 Policy Committee Chairman Bart Ruth:

The vote in the Senate today to kill the ethanol blenders' tax credit did more than deal a blow to the U.S. ethanol industry. It also temporarily derailed efforts to put American on a path to a clean and secure energy future.

The 25x'25 Alliance believes the vote is wrong-headed and another example of policy makers taking a short-sighted view of a single component in the nation's broad array of new and traditional energy resources. The political maneuverings preceding Thursday's action put a spotlight on ill-planned efforts to address temporary, hot-button issues, all in the vacuum left without a comprehensive, wide-ranging and stable energy policy.

Unfortunately, today's vote signals a "business-as-usual" approach to national energy policy. By failing to take a wider view of our national energy policy, policy makers today helped sustain our dependence on foreign oil and bypass an opportunity to develop a clean energy roadmap that can create jobs, nourish economic recovery and enhance our environment.

The 25x'25 Alliance urges lawmakers to re-engage soon and undertake talks that can reestablish a constructive national biofuels policy that responsibly supports this valuable component in a clean U.S. energy future.

Bart Ruth, a Nebraska grain farmer, is a member of the National 25x'25 Steering Committee and a former president of the American Soybean Association.