Letter to Honorable Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture - Grassley, Klobuchar Lead Colleagues In Calling On USDA To Assist Biofuels Industry

Letter

Dear Secretary Vilsack,
Congratulations on your recent confirmation to serve as United States Secretary of Agriculture.
We wish you success in your mission, which is so important to America's farmers, and we look
forward to working with you to find solutions to the many challenges facing American
agriculture.
We have been advocating for targeted relief for the biofuels industry since last spring when we
were first made aware of the demand collapse for ethanol and other renewable fuels due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. As you know, additional funding was added to the Commodity Credit
Corporation (CCC) by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stabilization (CARES) Act.
However, the previous administration argued that congressional intent was not clear with regard
to support for biofuels and did not use its discretionary authority to assist biofuels producers
through available CCC funding.
As a result, we worked to ensure specific language was included in December's COVID relief
bill that explicitly clarifies that USDA may provide direct payments to biofuels producers hard
hit by the pandemic. Providing aid to the ethanol industry would provide much-needed financial
assistance for these key agriculture processors and help keep these critical markets open to
farmers. It is for these reasons that we are supportive of the proposals the biofuels industry and
key agricultural organizations have put forward to stabilize the market from last year's
macroeconomic shock.
As the Department prepares a proposal for providing assistance to the agriculture industry using
CCC and other resources, we ask that you use this explicit authority to aid the nation's biofuels
industry. Keeping biofuels plants open is vital to the states we represent. We have been
encouraged by your recent statements at your confirmation hearing that you will fully utilize
USDA resources to get biofuel producers back on track and will aid the Biden Administration in
restoring the integrity of the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Thank you for considering our request and for your dedication to rural America. We look
forward to working with you to further protect American agriculture in response to the ongoing
pandemic.
Sincerely,