Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to introduce The Corn Ethanol Mandate Elimination Act of 2013, a bill cosponsored by my distinguished colleagues: Senators Tom Coburn, Kay Hagan, Susan Collins, Patrick Toomey, Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, Richard Burr, James Risch, and Joe Manchin. This legislation would eliminate the Federal corn ethanol mandate from the Renewable Fuel Standard, RFS, while leaving the requirement that oil companies purchase and use low-carbon ``advanced biofuel'' in place. Let me briefly explain why this legislation is necessary. The Renewable Fuel Standard, a statute enacted in 2007, requires oil companies to use 16.55 billion gallons of renewable fuel in 2013. This annual requirement increases to 36 billion gallons in 2022. Every year, the law directs that an increasing portion of this mandate be met using low-carbon ``advanced biofuel'' that is not derived from corn starch and lowers lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50 percent. I strongly support this provision to lower the carbon emissions from our fuel supply. However, 14.4 billion gallons in 2014, and 15 billion gallons each year after, of the RFS mandate established in statute is met using corn ethanol, which amounts to a corn ethanol mandate. There are two major problems with continuing to mandate the consumption of more and more corn ethanol in the United States each year. First and foremost, the policy has led us to divert 44 percent of the U.S.…”