Senators Spar over Biofuels Ahead of NDAA Floor Vote

by Andres Picon (E&E Daily) Senators are negotiating on amendments to their defense authorization, including language on ethanol sales and critical minerals. -- The Senate appeared to inch closer to a deal on the annual defense authorization bill Thursday (September 18, 2025), but the timing of a potential floor vote remains up in the air.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said the upper chamber could wrap up its work on the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act as soon as this week — if senators can clinch an agreement on a package of amendments.

The Senate’s version of the NDAA, S. 2296, contains provisions on minerals, advanced nuclear energy, chemicals and environmental cleanups. It has broad bipartisan support but has been stalled for weeks while negotiations have played out.

Leadership floated a list of amendments Thursday that included a proposal to permanently authorize year-round E15 ethanol sales, as well as language on critical mineral mapping and other priorities.

That amendment package, reported by POLITICO, would need to get approval from every senator in order to advance. As of Thursday evening, that unanimity remained elusive and leaders still had not scheduled a floor vote. READ MORE

Excerpt from Brownfield Ag News: Mike Flood of Nebraska tells Brownfield the skinny farm bill is an option. “We want it in there.”

He says one of the biggest challenges has been finding a legislative avenue. “There is some talk about attaching it to the NDAA, which is must pass (legislation) as the National Defense Authorization Act, versus the farm bill. Any vehicle that is going to get voted on in both chambers would be great.”

Flood says he remains optimistic. “It needs to start in a Senate bill and then come over here, and if we did that, I think there is enough support to keep it in there.”

He says Congress needs to avoid a repeat of last year when the legislation was dropped in December. Flood says all options are on the table but doesn’t Congress to address it until it figures out how fund the government and avoid a shutdown. READ MORE

Excerpt from Energy.AgWired.com: When it comes to the price of corn right now, growing markets for exports is important, but Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) says year-round E15 should be the number one priority of the Trump administration right now.

“In an average year, we’re exporting two billion bushels of corn…this year we’re going to export 2.86 billion bushels of corn, so trade exports are up but the price of corn is still down, for a lot of different reasons,” said Marshall during the 11th annual Ag Outlook Forum in Kansas City Thursday. “But, if we went to year-round E15, we would increase corn consumption by 2.5 billion bushels.”

Sen. Marshall says supporters in the Senate intend to get year-round E15 into some kind of must pass legislation this year, such as the National Defense Reauthorization Act or continuing resolution. “Anyone that cares about agriculture, that should be the number one ask of the White House right now is to support a year-round E15 bill,” said Marshall. “And it’ll pass if the president just says go.”

Marshall also commented on the future for sustainable aviation fuel and the 45Z tax credit, as well as a number of other topics during his conversation with Agri-Pulse Founder and Publisher Sara Wyant. Listen to the discussion here.
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Sen. Roger Marshall at KC Ag Outlook Forum (34:05) READ MORE

Excerpt from Brownfield Ag News: We have a lot of bushels out there and we need more trade. They want to see that they can get their products not just used domestically, but out there to the broader market around the world.”

The Iowa Republican tells Brownfield utilizing the biofuels industry can help boost demand for corn.

“One way we can use some of these commodities is by expanding our domestic consumption of renewable products like ethanol. Pushing really hard for E15 year around across the United States.”

“The president was really interested in hearing a number of ideas on expanding not just domestically, but increased consumption of ethanol and more trade around the world and really getting some of these deals finalized.”

Ernst says she’s optimistic that a federal solution for year-round E15 can get done before the end of the year. READ MORE; includes AUDIO

Excerpt from Energy.AgWired.com: When it comes to the price of corn right now, growing markets for exports is important, but Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) says year-round E15 should be the number one priority of the Trump administration right now.

Sen. Roger Marshall at KC Ag Outlook Forum (34:05) READ MORE