Congressional Update

Barring any surprise procedural snag (House Rules Committee), the House is on track to vote on year-round E15, May 13. Passage odds in the House look decent, but the Senate would be the bigger hurdle later. Please reach out to your U.S. Representatives today and ask them to vote YES on H.R. 1346, the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act.

The bill would prevent the emergence of fragmented “boutique” gasoline markets in Midwestern states that have opted out of the E10 waiver. Such boutique markets could disrupt gasoline supplies, raise costs, reduce fuel fungibility, and ultimately drive-up prices at the pump for consumers.
As a reminder, the EMA Board of Directors voted in favor of supporting a 1-pound waiver for E15 to enable year-round sales via a permanent legislative fix at our Fall Meeting in Chicago last October.
Click here to urge your House lawmaker to vote yes on H.R. 1346.

Meanwhile, nineteen members of the House, led by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), have sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Dr. Martin Makary urging them to take aggressive action against the proliferation of illicit vapor and nicotine pouch products. The legislators highlight a crisis in which the U.S. market is currently overwhelmed by unregulated products, primarily originating from China, while the FDA’s own approval process remains significantly delayed. Despite receiving over 26 million applications for review, the FDA has authorized only about 60 products to date. This regulatory bottleneck has resulted in a market where an estimated 85% of products are currently illicit.

To combat this issue, the congressional letter outlines three specific strategies: improving regulatory clarity, addressing the massive backlog of premarket applications, and strengthening enforcement efforts. The members of Congress argue that the lack of clear information regarding product denials makes it difficult for retailers and consumers to make informed decisions, while the slow pace of authorizations, which includes only 39 vapor and 26 pouch products, fails to meet demand and drives illegal behavior. Furthermore, the letter recommends that the FDA collaborate with the Department of Justice’s multi-agency task force to utilize every available tool to remove illegal products from the marketplace. This push for swifter action is supported by groups like NACS, which noted that the influx of illicit products has grown out of control.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has reached a bipartisan agreement on a topline funding figure for the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization bill, setting the amount between $550 and $600 billion. This consensus brings the committee closer to finalizing the legislative text and moving toward a markup, which is tentatively scheduled for the week of May 18. Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-MO), despite his upcoming retirement, remains committed to seeing the reauthorization signed into law before current programs expire.

However, significant challenges remain as lawmakers work toward the September 30 deadline to avoid a simple clean extension of existing programs. Even if the committee successfully advances the legislation this month, there is limited floor time available for debate. Furthermore, the bill must still navigate input from several other key bodies, including the House Ways and Means Committee and various Senate panels, many of which have not yet scheduled markups or released their own legislative.