Food before Fuel Act
Bill: H.R.7484 | Sponsor: Rep. Rice, Tom (R-SC)
Policy area: Energy

Summary:
Food before Fuel Act
This bill revises the renewable fuel program to eliminate the annual renewable fuel standard.
The existing standard requires 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel that is produced from renewable biomass to be blended into transportation fuel by 2022. The renewable fuel standard includes fuels that are produced from renewable biomass, such as corn.
The bill would not affect the standards under the program for advanced biofuel, cellulosic biofuel, or biomass-based diesel.

To amend the Clean Air Act to eliminate the corn ethanol mandate for 
                            renewable fuel.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Food before Fuel Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Ukraine accounts for 16 percent of global corn exports 
        and 12 percent of wheat exports.
            (2) The United States could more than compensate for the 
        loss of Ukraine's exports by diverting crops that are to be 
        made into biofuels into food production instead.
            (3) Almost 70 percent of all United States grain production 
        is corn, but almost half is formulated into ethanol to drive 
        cars and trucks.
            (4) Converting corn into fuel happens only because of a 
        mass of Federal regulations and subsidies that began during the 
        Carter administration.
            (5) While ethanol may have small environmental advantages 
        over gasoline, the benefits are nullified by ethanol's toll on 
        world food output.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
Federal Government should not be incentivizing farmers to grow corn for 
ethanol while Russia's invasion of Ukraine is jeopardizing the lives of 
Ukraine's citizens and is on track to cause a severe malnutrition 
across the world. As this supply is cut off, food prices which are 
already at record levels, will increase at a time when the economic 
fallout from the pandemic is already harming household budgets, 
particularly in low-income countries.

SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF CORN ETHANOL MANDATE FOR RENEWABLE FUEL.

    (a) Removal of Table.--Section 211(o)(2)(B)(i) of the Clean Air Act 
(42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(2)(B)(i)) is amended by striking subclause (I).
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 211(o)(2)(B) of the Clean Air 
Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(2)(B)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (i)--
                    (A) by redesignating subclauses (II) through (IV) 
                as subclauses (I) through (III), respectively;
                    (B) in subclause (I) (as so redesignated), by 
                striking ``of the volume of renewable fuel required 
                under subclause (I),''; and
                    (C) in subclauses (II) and (III) (as so 
                redesignated), by striking ``subclause (II)'' each 
                place it appears and inserting ``subclause (I)''; and
            (2) in clause (v), by striking ``clause (i)(IV)'' and 
        inserting ``clause (i)(III)''.
    (c) Administration.--Nothing in this section or the amendments made 
by this section affects the volumes of advanced biofuel, cellulosic 
biofuel, or biomass-based diesel that are required under section 211(o) 
of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)).
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