Ben Carson presidential campaign, 2016/Agricultural subsidies
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 Ben Carson |
Retired Pediatric Neurosurgeon |
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016 |
This page was current as of the 2016 election.
- During the seventh Republican presidential primary debate on January 28, 2016, Ben Carson talked about the mandatory ethanol standard and the role of government: “Well, as anyone knows who's been listening to me, you know? I'm very much against the government being involved in every aspect of our lives, you know? We last year there was an additional 81,000 pages of government regulations. If you stack that up it would be a three-story building. This is absolutely absurd. And, they've insinuated themselves into everything. Now, as far as the renewable fuel standard is concerned, certain promises were made, certain government contracts were issued which extend all the way into the year 2022, and I believe that it's probably unfair to withdraw the rug because people have invested money. People have invested a lot of energy into that. But, you know, we are blessed with tremendous energy in this nation, and we need to be talking for new sources of energy. Seventy percent of our population lives bi-coastally [sic]. What about hydroelectric power? We can develop that, you know? We have so much natural gas now, and we can liquify it, and we can transfer it across the sea so we can make Europe dependent on us instead of Putin -- put him back in his little box where he belongs. And we can get a lot of them out if we get the government out of our lives.”[1]
- At the third Republican primary debate, on October 28, 2015, Carson said he changed his mind about ending oil subsidies and using that money to build new ethanol blending pumps. He said, "I was wrong about taking the oil subsidy. I have studied that issue in great detail and what I’ve concluded, the best policy is to get rid of all government subsidies and get the government out of our lives and let people rise and fall based on how good they are. And you know all of this 'too big to fail' stuff and picking and choosing winners and losers, this is a bunch of crap. And it is really causing a great deal of problems for our society right now.”[2]
- After speaking at the The Des Moines Register Political Soapbox on August 16, 2015, Carson said he would phase out agricultural subsidies in 10 years. He said that the decade was needed to make the transition. "Particularly when you're talking about renewable fuel standards and things, there are a lot of promises that have been made that really extend all the way out to 2022, and people have made plans based on those kind of things," Carson said. "You can't just pull out the rug out from under people."[3] [4]
- On May 5, 2015, The Des Moines Register reported that Carson said he wanted to end subsidies for oil companies and funnel that money to build new ethanol blending stations. He said "I would probably be in favor of taking that $4 billion a year we spend on oil subsidies and using that in new fueling stations" for 30 percent ethanol blends. He said the result would be access to fuel that is 50 to 80 cents a gallon cheaper than regular gasoline and better for the environment without an ongoing cost for taxpayers.[5]
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Footnotes
- ↑ The Washington Post, "7th Republican debate transcript, annotated: Who said what and what it meant," January 28, 2016
- ↑ The Des Moines Register, "Carson shifts course on ethanol policy," October 28, 2015
- ↑ Washington Examiner, "In Iowa, Carson calls for phasing out agriculture subsidies in 10 years," August 16, 2015
- ↑ RFD-TV, "Dr. Carson On Ending Subsidies," August 24, 2015
- ↑ The Des Moines Register, "Carson: Use oil subsidies to build ethanol pumps," May 5, 2015
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