WASHINGTON, D.C. – Early this morning during the Senate’s “vote-a-rama” on a budget resolution for COVID-19 relief, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) offered an amendment that would cap Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) at 10 cents apiece, using tired and debunked arguments for a policy that would destroy markets for homegrown biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
The measure was swiftly defeated by a 26-74 vote thanks to strong biofuels voices like Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who rightly called the amendment a “direct attack on the Midwest and America’s hundreds of thousands of farmers.” In response to this resounding defeat, Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor made the following statement:
“We are grateful to Senators Duckworth and Grassley – and all of our biofuels champions and those who opposed this in the Senate – for defeating Senator Cruz’s midnight-hour attempt to gut the RFS and destroy markets for hard-pressed farmers and producers across rural America. It has been proven time and again that RIN prices do not threaten refiner profits, but that’s not why oil companies are back to pushing these tired gimmicks. They see that this change in Administration signals an end to their free pass on blending biofuels.
“We look forward to working with the Biden Administration’s EPA to restore integrity to the RFS and help our farmers and producers build back what they have lost from past regulatory abuse.”