Iowa Congressman Zach Nunn, a Republican from Ankeny, says there was a last-minute attempt to block Wednesday’s House vote on pro-ethanol legislation.
The bill to permanently allow the sale of E15 year-round passed, but Nunn said that came after a failed parliamentary move by lawmakers who oppose it. “I’m so proud of not only the biofuels caucus and particularly the Iowa delegation, I’m so proud we had good bipartisan support, folks across the country who weighed in and pushed back on these special interest groups,” Nunn said.
Over 300 members of the House voted against the attempt to derail the bill, then the legislation passed with “yes” votes from 218 of them. “A 218 bipartisan vote? Most people thought that we couldn’t even get a bill to the floor,” Nunn said. The bill got yes votes from 95 Democrats, a key block that countered the 90 Republicans who voted no.
The policy, now headed to the Senate, would skuttle an EPA rule that calls for E15 sales to be suspended in the summer months due to smog concerns. The policy’s path through the House was rocky. The proposal was removed from a spending bill in mid-January. House GOP Leaders promised a vote on the E15 rule in February. That didn’t happen, then year-round E15 policy was removed from the Farm Bill in late April and D.C. reporters posted accounts on social media of an argument between Nunn and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
“The speaker of the House and I got into it on the floor of congress and he’s a guy from Louisiana and oil is big down there,” Nunn said. “And backroom deals were attempted…so credit where credit is due, particularly Leader Scalise, but also the speaker of the House. They held true to their word.” House Speaker Mike Johnson and Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise allowed a vote on the E15 bill, but both voted against it.
The bill was opposed by small oil refineries because the legislation narrows their ability to seek waivers from federal ethanol blending requirements. It was endorsed by the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s trade group, and Nunn said that shows the vast majority of refiners supported the bill. “I think we also are at a time right now where we have an American public who wants to have more affordable fuel. E15 meets that charge,” Nunn said. “We have an American farmer who has been asking for this and never been able to get a vote in a committee and here we just had a successful vote on the House floor.”
The bill faces strong opposition in the senate from lawmakers who say it will hurt oil refineries in their states.