Oil-state Republicans challenge the Senate farm bill’s E15 plan. Here’s what’s at stake for corn

Year-round E15, the corn-ethanol industry’s top legislative goal, has hit a familiar obstacle: oil-state Republicans. Twenty-two House GOP members have told Speaker Mike Johnson they have “serious concerns” about the E15 language in the Senate farm bill. The issue could complicate a House-Senate deal that farm groups want done before the end of the year.

What the letter says

The letter, led by Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger of Texas and signed by members including Reps. Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma and Monica De La Cruz and Michael McCaul of Texas, was first reported by Agri-Pulse. The lawmakers argue that with domestic refining capacity tight and fuel markets vulnerable to disruption, Congress “should not be considering policies that create perverse financial incentives to produce less fuel or impose new costs and volatility on American consumers.”

They say they don’t oppose E15 itself. “Year-round E15 and meaningful RFS reforms need not be mutually exclusive,” they wrote. Their objection is to how the Senate bill rewrites small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard.

The 75,000-barrel line

Under current law, small refiners apply every year for an exemption from their biofuel-blending obligations. As Pro Farmer explained when Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman released the revised text, the Senate bill would replace that with a permanent exemption based on a refinery’s historical output. Refineries averaging 75,000 barrels a day or less would qualify. A refinery that grows past that threshold in 2028 or later would lose the exemption for good.

The House letter says that rule would discourage small refiners from expanding. It also says shifting exempted volumes onto non-exempt refineries through “reallocation” would raise compliance costs that consumers end up paying at the pump.

Why corn country cares

E15 is gasoline blended with 15% ethanol. It can’t be sold in many areas during the summer months without emergency waivers, and year-round permission would expand a market for corn that already absorbs a large share of the U.S. crop. “This is a top priority for corn growers, who greatly need expanded sources of demand, like the kind year-round E15 would offer,” National Corn Growers Association President Jed Bower said when the Senate text came out. The American Farm Bureau Federation has also counted year-round E15 among the reasons to pass the bill.

The coalition on the other side is split too. The House passed a stand-alone E15 bill in May that the American Petroleum Institute, which represents large refiners, supported. Smaller refiners opposed it over its treatment of SREs. According to Agri-Pulse, both groups now oppose the Senate farm bill’s E15 language.

Play video: Senate Committee Advances 2026 Farm Bill on Party-Line Vote

The calendar

Congress returns Nov. 9 from an extended recess. House and Senate agriculture leaders are trying to agree on a final farm bill before the session ends Jan. 3. Agri-Pulse reports that the nutrition fight comes first, specifically how much states will pay toward SNAP benefits. If that’s settled, negotiators can move on to E15 and other issues. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the SNAP state cost-share mandate at about $1.1 billion a year. The Senate bill would delay it by a year.

Bottom line for growers: E15 is still alive in the farm bill, but the SRE fight that sank a Senate deal in January is back. Watch whether negotiators change the 75,000-barrel threshold or the reallocation language. That’s the likely price of oil-state votes.