Both of Iowa’s U.S. Senators are introducing a bill that they say will immediately lower gas prices at the pump.
Republican Senator Joni Ernst says gasoline prices are at record high levels, topping $4.00 in many states, and she says the solution is simple: backing biofuels which is the basis of the Homefront Energy Independence Act.
“Iowa’s clean, American-made renewable fuels are ready and available to meet our nation’s needs right away,” Ernst says. “In fact, the current excess ethanol capacity domestically is nearly the same as the amount of Russian gas the U.S. had been importing, roughly 83-million barrels versus 87-million barrels.”
Senator Chuck Grassley quotes Triple-A in saying gasoline prices nationally are averaging $4.17 a gallon, surpassing all-time records set in July of 2008. Grassley, a Republican, disagrees with the administration “begging OPEC to send us more oil” while releasing billions of gallons from the strategic petroleum reserve. Grassley says domestic biofuels provide the quick and easy answer the country needs by immediately slashing prices at the pump.
“While the price of oil continues to go up, President Biden is off talking about electric vehicles,” Grassley says, “which require, can you imagine, rare earth minerals that come from where? Russia and China.”
Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is the lead Democratic sponsor of the bipartisan bill which will also ban Russian oil.
