Trump’s Trump Card in Iowa?

Federal Regulation, Iowa, Opinions, Policy

January 11, 2016

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by Devin Henry (The Hill) Donald Trump is an unabashed backer of federal support for ethanol, a popular issue in Iowa that could provide the GOP front-runner with an effective closing argument against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) ahead of the Feb. 1 caucuses.

Cruz has a narrow lead in polls of Iowa votes, but the race is close, and Trump has vowed to win the Hawkeye State.

“Iowa is important to me,” he said in an exclusive interview last week with The Hill.

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Cruz opposes the federal ethanol mandate, which requires refiners to mix a certain amount of ethanol into their gasoline supply.

Iowa is the leading ethanol-producing state in the nation, and Cruz’s plan to phase out the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has raised angst there, even among his own supporters.

Trump has peppered his Iowa stump speeches with praise for the fuel and hit Cruz for opposing the ethanol mandate.

The Trump campaign considers the issue one that could sway people struggling to decide between two like-minded candidates courting a similar demographic of voter.

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Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a Cruz endorser, said this week that he would work against an RFS phase-out plan should Cruz win the election.

“It would be tough to repeal the RFS with people like me in Congress, and [Sens.] Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst,” King told the Wall Street Journal. READ MORE and MORE (The Washington Post)

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