Aug. 20, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement urging President Donald Trump stand firm on granting ethanol waivers to a limited number of refiners:
“President Trump was 100 percent right when he ordered exemptions to the ethanol mixing requirements for a few oil refineries that were threatened to be shut down due to the costs of complying with the Renewable Fuel Standards. Now, King Corn in Iowa is raising its ugly head demanding that every oil refinery bow even if it breaks their business. Here is the truth, we should not burn food in our automobile engines at all. It is inefficient and bad for the engines. What’s more, as more and more vehicles go electric, less and less corn will be needed in oil based fuel. Americans for Limited Government believes that the Renewable Fuel Standard itself should be eliminated as an unnecessary market intervention. But if government policy is to provide an additional market for King Corn, then these subsidies should instead be directed toward feeding people both domestically and around the world. Foolishly burning food in our fuel tanks while the USDA reports that 42.7 million Americans are on food stamps is cruel. If Iowa farmers want to exert their political clout at the first presidential caucus, one would hope that they would at least compel federal taxpayers to buy corn to feed people not automobile engines. At the same time, the 2022 fuel mandate that requires the use of other non-corn-based biofuels should be eliminated in its entirety. Let’s return America’s farmers to the noble job of providing food rather than poor fuel substitutes.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org.
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