Grassley Presses for Action to Pass E15 to Support U.S. Economy and Rural America

Floor Remarks by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa Senate President Pro Tempore “ E15 Supports the Rural Economy” Tuesday, June 16, 2026 VIDEO A top issue for Iowans, and particularly an issue in this midterm election, is the farm economy, which isn’t very good. Farmers continue to face stronger headwinds. It’s not profitable today, particularly in grain farming. It’s not just an Iowa issue. It’s not just an American issue. I recently read that Brazil farmers are being foreclosed on because of low prices there, as well. There’s two ways of attacking this. It can be either side of the ledger. We can help lower input costs, [and] we can increase markets for farmers. Farmers continue to say they don’t want checks from the Treasury that are often passed on to input suppliers. They want their prices from the marketplace. So, I’ve got a solution about the marketplace, and I and other senators, both Republican and Democrat, have been talking about the ethanol issue of E15. We’ve been doing that for months now. I have been sharing that year-round E15 would create [a] nearly $14 billion increase in demand for corn in the United States. Those figures come from economists and the Iowa Corn Growers Association. But this does not show the full picture. E15 would also add $25.8 billion to the national Gross Domestic Product and 128,000 jobs. Most of the jobs and value created from E15 support rural communities. High-paying jobs go to local ethanol plants, grain cooperatives, ag equipment manufacturing and other agriculture suppliers. And, of course, the farmers benefit from it, as well. During my annual 99 county Q&As that I hold around the state, this year and each year, I’ve heard directly from Iowans at county farm bureaus, other businesses and cooperatives how year-round E15 will support [the] rural American economy. It’s time then that the Senate pass E-15 legislation. It’s good for the farmers. It’s good for good-paying jobs in rural America, good for the environment because ethanol is cleaner burning than gasoline from fossil fuels. It’s good for national security, as we depend less on foreign sources of energy. So, I like to say, when I do a ribbon-cutting at the opening of an ethanol plant, “It’s good, good, good...”! I want to speak also about ethanol and E15 as a process, right here in the United States Senate. And I think it’s about time that this be highlighted by both Democrats and Republicans from agricultural states that support E15, but don’t talk about it enough. Now, it could be handled as a separate issue [in] the United States Senate, and that’d be the appropriate way to do it. But, you know, when the Senate’s only in session about three days out of the week, we aren’t getting much done with separate pieces of legislation. So, something like E15 is going to have to find a home in some other bill – the Farm Bill, the defense bill, appropriations bills – but we aren’t talking about what that’s going to do. And I just mentioned three possibilities, and there aren’t a whole lot of other possibilities. And there’s even talk around here that you don’t hear or read in the press, but talk about maybe the government’s going to shut down just before the election. Maybe Democrats want the government to shut down just before the election. Then, you know what? You get into continuing resolutions, and continuing resolutions are usually what we call “clean.” Nothing added to it. So, let’s say we get to October 1st, and there’s no appropriations bills. Then, you have a continuing resolution until Thanksgiving. Then, you don’t pass appropriations bills, and you have a continuing resolution until Christmas. And then, Christmas comes, and you have a continuing resolution that maybe takes you over into the new calendar year [or] middle of February. And if those are all clean appropriations bills, where are you going to put E15? If it’s not on the Farm Bill or the defense bill or appropriations bills. Now, we’ve got to start thinking about that, both the Republicans and the Democrats from farm states that support ethanol. We’ve got to be thinking about what we’re going to do if this isn’t going to come up as a separate bill on the floor of the United States Senate, and I think we better put our heads together. That’s probably at least 28 senators from grain-growing states in the United States where we grow, at least 14 states, 28 senators. We better put our heads together, or we’re going to lose the opportunity of getting E15. It’s through the House of Representatives. It’s further than it’s ever been. And if we miss this opportunity, we may never get E15 and lose that $14 billion dollars that economists for the Iowa Corn Growers tell us that we’re going to get [for an] increased price of grain. -30-