Collin Peterson: “I want to rise to commend Chairman Dingell for the outstanding work that he did on this legislation. He, once again…”

“I want to rise to commend Chairman Dingell for the outstanding work that he did on this legislation. He, once again, produced a good bill that can be signed, as he always does. I also want to commend the Speaker, the rest of our leadership; the Speaker, especially, for her focus, or we wouldn't probably be here today. As chairman of the Ag Committee, the most important part of this bill is the renewable fuel standard. I want to thank the chairman for putting a 9-billion-gallon standard in for next year on ethanol. We have gotten to the point of 7 billion gallons of production right now. The RFS is 5 billion. In order to keep this industry going, we need this 9-billion RFS next year. So this is going to get us back on track. We have a 36-billion-gallon number in the overall bill. What this RFS does with the 9 billion for ethanol, and 500 million, up to a billion for biodiesel, it will set the stage for the next generation of ethanol, which is going to be cellulosic, and for new feedstocks for biodiesel. So when you take this bill and put it together with what we have put in the farm bill, this is going to set the stage for us to be able to produce at least 30 percent of our fuel from agriculture down the road. We are not going to be the total solution to this problem, though we are going to be a big part of the solution, and we are excited about being involved in this process and making this happen. So this is a historic day.”