Motion to Discharge
Floor Speech
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Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, gas prices are 64 percent higher in my home State of Kentucky than they were in January of 2021. This means Kentuckians are paying $1.43 more for gas than they were at the beginning of last year.
For average Americans already struggling to put food on the table, sky-high gas prices are a daily punishment.
Every additional dollar an American spends on a gallon of gas is a dollar not going towards their mortgage, their retirement, or their children's college fund.
Rising prices are robbing Americans of the chance to plan for the future, as they struggle to make ends meet in the present.
In an attempt to address rising gas prices, President Biden announced on April 12 that he would allow the sale of E15 gasoline this summer. Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki had this to say about this decision:
[This] waiver [that President Biden passed to allow E15] is a critical step to address the fuel supply crisis and . . . build real U.S. energy independence, support American agriculture and manufacturing, and save Americans money at the pump. At current prices, E15 can save a family 10 cents per gallon of gas on average and many stores sell E15 at even greater discount and today's waiver will allow families to pay that lower price for months to come.
So this is a policy supported by President Biden, and it is currently the law since he is waiving the regulation.
E15 is a gasoline blend containing up to 15 percent ethanol. It is a renewable fuel typically made from corn. A 2008 study published in Atmospheric Environment found that ethanol-based fuels like E15 emit up to 16 percent less carbon dioxide than traditional gasoline.
A more recent study published by the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory found that these fuels emit up to 23 percent less carbon dioxide and provide a cheaper alternative to typical gasoline, and yet the Clean Air Act currently prohibits the sale of E15 during the summer. So we sell it for 9 months of the year; we forbid it for 3 months of the year. But companies can't get used to either selling it or making it or distributing it because of the disruption during the summer.
Under the current law, gas with up to 10 percent ethanol, commonly known as E10, can be sold during the summer. But, inexplicably, the law treats E15 differently, even though the higher ethanol blend is better for the environment.
American drivers ought to be able to access E15 year-round. Prohibiting its sale in the summer months artificially restricts the supply, especially when Americans are paying historically high prices for a gallon of gasoline.
What we are asking to do today through this legislation is not to subsidize ethanol, not to force people to use ethanol, but to allow people to use ethanol at an E15 basis, a little bit higher than we are allowed to use already.
Republican and Democratic Presidents have both waived this rule. This is essentially what the law of the land is other than we are having to suspend the law to get what we have. The last President and this President have both waived the rule that we are trying to repeal today.
Both Presidents Trump and Biden approved the removal of barriers to the sale of E15 during the summer months; but in Congress, we have it in our power to permanently allow the sale of E15.
If we only do it by Presidential waiver, there is never enough certainty for people in the marketplace to decide to sell it year-round because they are worried that at any one moment a President will flip a switch, and then we will go back to banning it again.
The EASE Act, which is what we will be asking to pass today, is a bill that will allow the sale of E15 year-round and will provide relief for Americans on the road--not only this year, but every year. This change is long overdue. I have advocated this policy for 7 years. I first introduced this legislation in 2015.
Passing the EASE Act would benefit consumers, farmers, and the environment by increasing access.
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