Grassley Says Wheeler Vowed No More RFS Waivers Amid Court Review, Argues Senate Impeachment Trial Will Impede Biden Agenda

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Any last-minute Trump EPA biofuel waivers for oil refiners would break a commitment Administrator Andrew Wheeler made to both Iowa U.S. senators – Republicans Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernest.

Grassley made his comments to farm reporters after the Supreme Court last week agreed to hear an oil industry appeal of a federal appeals court ruling striking down most retroactive ethanol waivers, saying “Shortly after the November election, Wheeler told Senator Ernst and me that he would take no action granting additional waivers, until the 10th Circuit case on small refineries was decided in the courts. So, if any action is taken before a final Supreme Court decision, it would be contrary to what he told Senator Ernst and me.”

Several ethanol state senators wrote President-elect Joe Biden, urging that his EPA implement the 10th Circuit ruling nationwide and publish overdue biofuel obligations.  Grassley and others wrote Wheeler.

Separately, Grassley warned that a Senate impeachment trial after President Trump leaves office runs the risk of upending Biden’s agenda of passing a new virus stimulus bill and confirming his cabinet. “If he pushes for this to go through the Senate, it’s going to further divide the nation, or at least, emphasize division that already exists.  And then, secondly, the first hundred-days of an administration is very important. It’s going to slow up his agenda.”

Democrats insist on holding Trump accountable for his actions in the attack on the US Capitol.  But it will take 17-Senate Republicans to convict Trump if all Democrats hold together…and Grassley says there’s a constitutional question, if the Senate even has the power to convict a US citizen, once no longer president.