Political Quotes

“Madam President, on behalf of the corn and soybean farmers in my State, I object to ``small refinery relief language'' in the fiscal year 2020 Interior appropriations bill that suggests that the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, disregard Department of Energy determinations on small refinery hardships. The provision encourages EPA to continue allowing refiners to stop blending biofuels with no transparency or evidence of hardship. Fourteen years ago in this Chamber, I helped enact the renewable fuels standard, RFS, which required petroleum-based vehicle fuels to include a minimum volume of ethanol and biodiesel in them. Both fuels are produced from corn and soybeans, driving economic activity throughout Illinois and the Midwest. The law has been a tremendous success. We have created new markets for corn and soybeans and helped supply motorists with affordable fuel. We have provided a greener alternative to MTBE and other additives. And now the United States is the world's largest producer of ethanol, generating commerce and creating jobs, both on and off the farm. In fact, I can hardly think of a national policy in this generation that has achieved greater success for rural economic growth than biofuels. In the wake of the gasoline shortages of the 1970s, the farm financial crisis of the 1980s, the clean air discussions of the 1990s, the oil price spikes of the 2000s, and rural economic conditions of today, biofuels became part of the solution.…”