Overview
- House leaders moved a fiscal 2026 minibus forward without language to authorize year‑round E15 sales following House Rules deliberations on Thursday.
- Opposition from House GOP leaders, several Republican senators and the White House led appropriators to drop the provision, with officials warning it could jeopardize the deal and risk a shutdown.
- Republican backers of E15 agreed with leadership to form a task force to study year‑round sales, with supporters eyeing later attempts through a supplemental package or Senate action.
- Ethanol and farm interests that spent heavily in 2025 to lift summer restrictions on E15 denounced the outcome, while Midwestern lawmakers called the omission a setback for corn growers.
- E15 sales remain barred from June to mid‑September under air‑quality rules, a status favored by Gulf Coast refining interests even after an American Petroleum Institute deal with farm and biofuel groups intensified GOP infighting.