Washington, D.C. (RI) — The four Republicans who represent Iowa in the U.S. House have voted for a new version of the Farm Bill after joining a bipartisan majority of House members to strip legal protections for a popular pesticide from the bill.
A Republican congresswoman from Colorado had threatened to slaughter the Farm Bill if the language about RoundUp remained. Iowa’s congressional delegation is touting a number of items that remain in the Farm Bill, including enhanced federal oversight to ensure foreigners do not buy or own U.S. farmland, as well as an attempt to override a California law that bars the sale of pork products from animals raised in tight stalls that do not give the hogs enough room to move.
House leaders say a separate vote on allowing year-round sales of E15 will be held in the House on May 13th. Senator Chuck Grassley says President Trump promised during his trip to Iowa in January that he’d sign the bill into law.
Grassley says Presidents Trump and Biden have issued waivers so E15 could be sold in the summer months, and it’s time to make the policy permanent.
In January, a move to allow sales of E15 during the summer driving season was pulled from a budget bill, and House leaders had indicated a vote solely on the E15 policy would be held in February.
Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra is co-chair of the group of House lawmakers who have been trying this year to hammer out an E15 compromise to satisfy complaints from midsized refiners about the Renewable Fuels Standard.
KIWA Staff Photo
