800 326 9054Midwest Republicans made a last-ditch attempt with House leadership to add year-round E15 to a fiscal 2026 appropriations package, and they came away with authorization of a council to study the issue and develop legislation to be considered next month.
The National Corn Growers Association expressed outrage at the outcome.
“Corn growers are disgusted, disappointed and disillusioned that after spending years of calling for passage of E15, Congress has again punted, and it has done so in a spectacularly weak and offensive way,” NCGA President Jed Bower said in a statement.
“Bizarrely, members of Congress are now planning to establish a rural energy council to explore this legislation as if we are in the beginning stages of discussing E15.”
The rule for the funding package approved by the House Rules Committee Thursday morning includes an amendment to establish “the E-15 Rural Domestic Energy Council (“Council”), appointed by the Speaker of the House, to develop legislative solutions to address the crisis facing our nation’s farmers and refiners.”
The council has until Feb. 15 to submit a legislative proposal, with the goal of considering the bill by Feb. 25.
The council would be required “to investigate topics including, but not limited to, the sale of Ethanol-15, U.S. refinery capacity, the Renewable Fuel Standard Program, Renewable Identification Numbers, access to markets, and federal regulations that hinder American energy dominance.”
The amendment doesn’t specify the size or makeup of the council.
On Wednesday, farm groups, the American Petroleum Institute and refinery groups met with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and administration officials at the White House Wednesday afternoon to push for the provision, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Numerous lawmakers attending an earlier meeting Wednesday with House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed that the message was received by leadership on the need for the provision to allow year-round, nationwide sales of higher ethanol blends known as E15. However, Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., told Agri-Pulse the Senate was the roadblock on the issue.
“The concerns they have is the senators that don’t want to vote on it and the speaker is working to try to get them on board, but they’re (not in session),” Bost said.
The Senate has been in recess this week and returns to Washington on Monday. The last scheduled session day for the House before the looming Jan. 30 government funding deadline is Friday.
“We as a group … and it’s a large group, we want to make sure that it [year-round E15] is in there, and so those discussions are still going on,” added Bost, who was one of the numerous lawmakers in the Wednesday meeting.
Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., also told Agri-Pulse the Senate was the reason the E15 provision was removed from the funding bill.
“We thought we were going to get E15 with one of these appropriation bills and that did not happen, so I think the ball is in the court of the Senate right now to try to get them to play ball,” Alford said.
Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa., introduced a rules amendment to include the provision in the House funding text, but it will likely be found non-germane.
Corn growers were in the House office buildings with signs Wednesday afternoon promoting the affordability of E15 for consumers and how the provision would support corn farmers.
The push comes as the American Farm Bureau Federation Wednesday pressed lawmakers to pass a new round of farm assistance, even though it was left out of a fiscal 2026 funding package congressional negotiators released this week.
It’s not clear when there will be another legislative vehicle that could carry the agricultural funding. An aide to the Senate Agriculture Committee said there was no timeline for a supplemental funding bill.
“Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have assured us in recent weeks that they recognize more aid is needed to keep our food supply strong, which requires a strong agricultural sector,” AFBF President Zippy Duvall said in a statement.
House Ag Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., told Agri-Pulse the Senate is taking the lead on any additional farm aid.
Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw said Wednesday it’s “do or die” time for lawmakers on E15. “We’ve asked our champions to do whatever it takes, because if we don’t get it now, we don’t think E15 is coming for years, and there’s no other identifiable demand driver on the horizon.”
This year’s high-stakes midterm congressional elections means lawmakers will be distracted by politics starting around midyear. “They will not do bills and provisions that split the caucus, they just won’t,” Shaw told Agri-Pulse on the sidelines of the Clean Fuels Alliance America conference in Florida.
While API supports the E15 provision, many smaller merchant refiners oppose it. The measure would both allow expansion of sales of higher ethanol blends as well as limit the number of refiners eligible to seek exemptions from biofuel mandate requirements.
Kim Chipman contributed to this report.
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*Sourced from Agri-Pulse.