Items Tagged with 'E15'

Farmer financial aid, a voluntary ethanol boost and an overdue farm bill are again in focus as Congress races against a legislative clock with a raft of competing concerns. Republican and Democratic lawmakers are pushing to get more aid for farmers to help sustain them until October, when updated safety-net programs passed by Congress last year take effect.

Republicans aim to fast-track a sweeping spending package that includes key agriculture investments. 

Lawmakers return to Capitol Hill reeling from the news of Lindsey Graham’s sudden death. The loss of the influential Republican senator from South Carolina is prompting tributes from both sides of the political aisle. 

President Donald Trump has ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off all trade with Spain despite an upward trend of U.S. agricultural exports to the country. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, says Congress needs to move on legislation to allow voluntary, year-round sales of higher ethanol fuel blends, known as E15, before lawmakers adjourn for five weeks starting in early October.

The cost of borrowing money is in focus as the Federal Reserve is set to release details of its latest meeting on Wednesday. The minutes will provide hints on if the central bank is inclined to raise interest rates any time soon. Thirty-one cases of screwworm have been found in the U.S., though only 17 are active, according to the latest data from USDA. 

 The Senate’s draft farm bill doesn’t include language for year-round E15 or the elimination of California’s Proposition 12, but Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman is still highly optimistic both measures will make it through Congress this year. The two biggest U.S. ethanol trade groups are defending the Trump administration against legal challenges to EPA biofuel-blending rules from environmentalists, biogas groups and oil refiners.

The American Petroleum Institute says Congress needs to stick with a House-passed E15 bill as President Donald Trump formally asks lawmakers to clear a new funding package that also includes the pro-ethanol measure. 

President Donald Trump made the biggest pitch for year-round E15 since his first term, calling on Congress to include the pro-ethanol measure in a nearly $88 billion legislative package to fund a raft of items, including the Iran war and $11 billion in financial aid for farmers. Members of Clean Fuels Alliance America gathered on Capitol Hill this week to stress the need to pass legislation to expand biomass-based diesel use in ocean-going vessels. 

Discussion on the potential for Senate passage of an E15 bill swirled on Capitol Hill Tuesday after the release of a draft farm bill that doesn’t include the pro-ethanol measure. A bill to expedite Emergency Conservation Program payments to producers whose land has been damaged by wildfires cleared the House Tuesday with a 386-19 vote. It now heads to the president’s desk for his signature.

Senate Agriculture Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., is optimistic on the prospects for E15 and additional farmer aid to pass Congress.