Republicans from farm-heavy states are not exactly prophets of free enterprise when it comes to their favorite industry. On agricultural policy, they are conservatives in the sense that they seek to conserve FDR’s system of farm socialism. Nowhere is this clearer than on ethanol.
The innocuous-sounding Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), created by Congress in 2005, forces U.S. oil refineries to blend a specified volume of biofuels, primarily ethanol, into their products. Essentially, it requires that Americans put a certain amount of corn in their gas tanks for . . . reasons. Proponents argue that ethanol gives consumers greater choice and reduces their transportation costs. If true, it’s rather odd that ethanol needs a federal mandate to be sold, and that corn producers — not drivers — are the ones always pushing for more.
Earlier this year, the friends of biofuels in the House worked to pass a bill with the headline of allowing the sale of gasoline blended with ethanol year-round. (Currently, E10 and E15 sales are restricted during the summer because of smog concerns.) According to the small print, however, the bill would also strangle RFS exemptions afforded to smaller refineries, which have a harder time affording the mandate, thereby raising downstream fuel prices. How’s that for consumer choice?
The bill hasn’t passed the Senate, so the EPA is free to grant small-refinery waivers this year. Unfortunately, Midwestern lawmakers caught wind of rumors that the Trump administration was prepared to approve a record number of exemptions after the Biden EPA had categorically denied all applications for four years. Suffice it to say, they were not pleased.
One representative from Iowa voiced her indignation online:
Iowa farmers were promised record biofuel demand, and that promise needs to be kept.
When President Trump finalized the highest renewable fuel volumes in history, he said it would deliver more than $10 billion in rural economic benefits and 100,000 new jobs. That commitment is…
— Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D. (@RepMMM) August 25, 2026
So the president “promised” farmers a certain level of demand by making it legally obligatory, and now he must conjure it. This from the supposed party of free markets.
Another Republican lawmaker from Iowa was also very upset. And another. And another.
Ultimately, this crony contingent lost the battle on small-refinery exemptions; the EPA approved a record number on Monday. But the agency also announced that it would reallocate 100 percent of the exempted biofuel volumes to higher mandates for all other refineries, no doubt at lawmakers’ behest.
Knowing they had not let the energy sector get away with serving customers’ genuine fuel demands, farm-state Republicans could rest easier.