{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.manchin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=12c35e69-8247-4068-a70a-6c74394adfde", "Manchin Cosponsors Bipartisan Legislation to Eliminate Corn Ethanol Mandate", "2013-12-12", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "WV", "Joe Manchin", "M001183", "www.manchin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 12, 2013\n\t\t\t Manchin Cosponsors Bipartisan Legislation to Eliminate Corn Ethanol Mandate \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t(WASHINGTON, D.C.) \u2013 Today, U.S. Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced with eight cosponsors The Corn Ethanol Mandate Elimination Act of 2013.\u00a0 The bill, cosponsored by Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC), Susan Collins (R-ME), Bob Corker, (R-TN), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jim Risch (R-ID), and Patrick Toomey (R-PA), eliminates the corn ethanol mandate within the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) which requires a yearly increase in the amount of renewable fuel that must be blended into the total volume of gasoline refined and consumed in the United States.\u00a0 The RFS, which was first enacted in 2005 and then expanded in 2007, requires refiners and blenders to use 16.55 billion gallons of renewable fuel in 2013.\u00a0\r\n\u201cThe time to end the corn ethanol mandate has arrived,\u201d Dr. Coburn said. \u201cThis misguided policy has cost taxpayers billions of dollars, increased fuel prices and made our food more expensive.\u00a0 Eliminating this mandate will let market forces, rather than political and parochial forces, determine how to diversify fuel supplies in an ever-changing marketplace.\u00a0 I\u2019m grateful my colleagues on both sides of the aisle are prepared to take this long-overdue step to protect consumers and taxpayers from artificially high fuel and food prices.\u201d\r\n\u201cI am pleased to join Senator Coburn and others on a bill to eliminate the federal corn ethanol mandate from the Renewable Fuel Standard, while maintaining provisions designed to grow the low-carbon biofuel industry,\u201d Senator Feinstein said.\u00a0 Under the corn ethanol mandate in the RFS, roughly 44 percent of U.S. corn is diverted from food to fuel, pushing up the cost of food and animal feed and damaging the environment. Oil companies are also unable to blend more corn ethanol into gasoline without causing problems for automobiles, boats and other vehicles. I strongly support requiring a shift to low-carbon advanced biofuel, including biodiesel, cellulosic ethanol and other revolutionary fuels. But a corn ethanol mandate is simply bad policy.\u201d\r\n\u201cI have long opposed efforts to increase the use of corn ethanol as a fuel additive and am pleased to support this bipartisan legislation,\u201d Senator Collins said.\u00a0 \u201cCorn ethanol blended gasoline poses economic and safety risks by damaging or destroying engines of older cars, boats, and snowmobiles, has caused food and feed prices to rise, and presents significant environmental concerns.\u00a0\u00a0 Expanding alternative, domestic fuel sources remains critically important for energy independence, however, and I continue to support the development of promising advanced biofuels to meet our energy and environmental challenges.\u201d\u00a0\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s become obvious that the Renewable Fuel Standard is having some unintended consequences, like higher food prices and fuel market disruptions that could raise gas prices,\u201d Senator Corker said.\u00a0 \u201cThis bill is a common-sense step to mitigate those consequences and move our energy policy in a direction that better reflects the realities of our domestic fuel demand and production.\u201d\r\n\u201cDiverting corn to produce ethanol hurts hardworking families by raising the cost of food,\u201d Senator Manchin said. \u201cWhile I believe that we need to develop alternative energy sources as part of a domestic, all-of-the-above energy approach, we must be smart about where we make our investments. It is long past time to eliminate these harmful corn ethanol requirements that do little to make us energy independent, while raising the cost of food in these already tough economic times.\u201d\r\n\u201cSince 2005, fuel suppliers like those in Trainer and Philadelphia have been forced to blend millions of gallons of biofuels - notably corn ethanol - into the nation's gasoline supplies,\u201d Sen. Toomey said.\u00a0 \u201cThis flawed central planning harms the viability of good paying jobs, drives up gas prices, increases food costs, and harms the environment. This is the government using corporate welfare to shower money on a favored industry and send the bill to the general public. Labor leaders, business, and environmental groups have pushed back against this harmful regulatory regime.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to repeal the requirement that directs more corn in our gas tank at the expense of the hardworking men and women of Pennsylvania.\u201d\r\nAdditional background information here.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.manchin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ContentRecord_id=12c35e69-8247-4068-a70a-6c74394adfde"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9056748822331429, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}