Chuck Grassley: “I am going to keep pounding home the facts behind the relationship between food prices and biofuels, because it is not…”

“I am going to keep pounding home the facts behind the relationship between food prices and biofuels, because it is not supported by economics, it is not supported by common sense, and it is not supported by sound science. The fact is, biofuels are increasing our national security, biofuels are helping our balance of trade, and they are reducing our dependence on Middle East oil and the whims of big oil. Every barrel we use of biofuels is $135 not going to some foreign land where they train terrorists to kill Americans. So it is time we cleared the air, it is time we looked at the facts, and it is time we recognize, once again, that everything about our domestic renewable fuel industry is good, good, good. I emphasize it is good for the environment--less CO2 in the air--it is good for good jobs in rural America, because a lot of these ethanol refineries are in rural America, where we never thought we would have good-paying jobs, and a lot of these refineries respond to another problem--we don't have enough oil refineries in this country. In a sense, every ethanol plant, every biofuels plant is a refinery. It is good for our national security, which I think I have made very clear, and it is good for agriculture. It is good that we don't have Government supporting surplus grains. We are not having taxpayers' money go out to farmers. Farmers are getting their money from the marketplace now that prices are higher.”