The Iowa GOP delegation is letting bygones be bygones when it comes to their short-lived tiff with Speaker Kevin McCarthy over biofuel tax credits during debt ceiling bill negotiations.
Not usually the trouble makers of the GOP conference, the Iowa Republicans – Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn – were prepared to buck leadership and vote no on the bill if provisions clawing back ethanol subsidies were not taken out.
But the group was able to meet with McCarthy and successfully make their case to get the biofuel tax credits added back under the text of the legislation in a late-night change hours before the vote.
Now, their differences are water under the bridge despite tense talks throughout the week, according to Feenstra’s retelling of the drama.
Feenstra told DailyMail.com it was ‘just an oversight’ that the debt ceiling bill originally took away the biofuels tax credits that almost thwarted the package entirely.
Feenstra, whose district produces more biofuels than every other in the nation combined, had nothing but praise for the speaker’s leadership after remaining tight-lipped all week about the closed-door negotiations.
‘I’ll tell you what, Speaker McCarthy, I can’t applaud him more,’ the congressman told said in an interview after the bill passage.
‘He understood it and he said to our delegation and myself, “Hey, I get how important it is to the Midwest, and we’re gonna figure out a solution.”‘
Biofuels subsidies had originally been stripped as part of the Limit Save Grow act under a move to do away with clean energy subsidies that were implemented in the Democrat-led IRA. But as Feenstra explains it, the biofuels subsidies had long been around – the IRA simply extended them as they were due to expire.
Rep. Randy Feenstra told DailyMail.com that it was ‘just an oversight’ that the debt ceiling bill originally took away the biofuels tax credits that almost thwarted the package entirely
Iowa Republicans were able to meet with Speaker McCarthy and successfully make their case to get the biofuel tax credits added back under the text of the legislation in a late-night change hours before the vote
‘That’s why we were so concerned to say, hey, we always had these and now they’re being shipped out. And that was the difference here.’
‘These few provisions were just simply extenders, they weren’t anything new,’ Feenstra said. ‘So they got caught up in something they should have never got caught up in. It’s probably more of just an oversight.’
After some internal strife, leadership was able to wrangle enough votes to pass their sprawling debt ceiling bill Wednesday that counts $4.8 trillion in savings in exchange for raising the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion.
The bill passed 217-215 – with four Republicans voting against it.
Republicans had been eager to get the Limit Save Grow Act through to force President Biden and Democrats to the negotiating table as the threat of default looms and the nation’s $31.4 trillion borrowing limit draws closer.
A dramatic will-they-or-won’t-they ensued on Capitol Hill this week, where no one knew for certain whether the speaker would have the votes up until the bill was brought to the floor. If he didn’t, it would’ve marked an unpleasant first for McCarthy – he has not yet brought a bill with his endorsement to the floor and lost.
The back-and-forth that broke out now begs the question: if it was this difficult to get Republicans on board with a party-line package, how could the speaker get his free-wheeling conference to agree to a deal negotiated with Democrats?
Leadership had unveiled the sprawling package as some members quietly complained it didn’t have the input from rank-and-file they wanted, but McCarthy pressed forward insisting he would not rewrite the bill up until the 11th hour.
‘No, we’re gonna pass the bill,’ he confidently told reporters on Tuesday night when asked if he would reopen the legislation.
‘Are you guys not listening to my answers?’ he asked.
But as the speaker realized he did not have the votes without the farmland Republicans and those who had concerns about work requirements, reopen the bill he did.
Sections removing biofuels subsidies were taken out and the new work requirements for social programs were tweaked to kick in in 2024 instead of 2025.
Biofuels subsidies are a tiny chunk of the federal budget but are a lifeblood for states like Iowa, where ‘every other corn and soybean row goes to either ethanol or biodiesel,’ according to Feenstra.
‘If this goes away, I mean, it’d be catastrophic for our entire Iowa economy.’
Under the 2005 U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the nation’s oil refiners must mix some 15 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol in the nation’s gasoline annually. The legislation was mean to reduce emissions, support farmers and make the U.S. more energy independent.
Studies have differing conclusions on whether blending ethanol into gasoline is a net-positive for the environment, but Feenstra insists U.S.-made biofuels are cleaner than importing gasoline from the Middle East or parts for electric vehicles from China.
Feenstra, whose district produces more biofuels than every other in the nation combined, had nothing but praise for the speaker’s leadership after remaining tight-lipped all week about the closed-door negotiations
‘We always talk about electric vehicles and yet ethanol and biodiesel is the cleanest form of energy that our nation can produce. And we don’t have to buy materials and batteries and even oil from our adversaries like China. – you know, we have a right in the breadbasket of America.’
A 2019 study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found ethanol’s carbon intensity is 39 percent lower than pure gasoline. A 2022 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and partially funded by the National Wildlife Federation and U.S. Department of Energy found ethanol to be likely at least 24 percent more carbon-intensive due to emissions from land use changes.
And in another win for ethanol advocates, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday moved to allow E15, gasoline that is 15 percent ethanol, throughout the summer months.
The E15 blend has been banned in the summer months due to concerns it contributes to smog, but the EPA said Friday they now don’t believe the move will significantly impact air quality. They say the move will help reduce gas prices, promote energy independence and support U.S. farmers.
