Congress Has the Power to Lower Gas Prices

Escalating tensions in the Middle East, including recent actions to choke off traffic in the Red Sea, are creating ongoing gas price hikes across the United States.

This adds increasing pressure to both parties as the mid-terms approach, and they look to find a way to curb these rising costs. Luckily, the Senate has the power to pass legislation that could provide some immediate economic relief to the nation’s drivers.

The U.S. House recently passed bipartisan legislation that eliminates an antiquated federal regulation that prevents the sale of fuels with 15% ethanol blends, known as E15 and marketed as Unleaded 88, during the summer months. We are encouraging the Senate to quickly do the same, so that it could become law this year. Doing so would offer a lower-cost fuel option across the country.

Research shows that E15 can save consumers up to 30 cents per gallon. And as we reach a peak vacation and travel period, the data show E15 could provide about $150 million in savings for drivers this summer alone. Such a development would go a long way in helping Americans who say they are financially strapped and struggling to make ends meet.

Allowing for the year-round sale of E15 would also benefit the nation’s economy. Ethanol production already supports jobs and economic vitality across the United States. In 2024, for example, the data show that the U.S. ethanol industry helped support nearly 314,000 direct and indirect jobs. Ethanol contributed more than $53 billion to the gross domestic product and added $28 billion to household income. This generated more than $10 billion in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments. So, increasing access to ethanol stands to benefit not only fuel consumers but the communities they live in, as well.

And the benefits of this legislation don’t end there.

I can tell you, my conversations with fellow farmers all over the country back up what we know from economic data: ethanol production is a critical economic engine for the nation’s corn growers and many of its rural communities. And increasing ethanol sales would help corn farmers across the country who are faced with a severe economic crisis. Unfortunately, the outlook for next year looks even worse, with losses projected to worsen from $131 per acre in 2026 to $167 per acre in 2027, leaving producers grappling with multi-year deficits. Allowing for the sale of E15 during the summer months would increase demand for our crops and help offset the pain we are feeling.

President Trump joins the House members who see the value of this legislation. He knows increasing consumer access to ethanol is important to national energy security, the U.S. economy and the nation’s farmers. That’s why he has thrown his support behind getting E15 legislation over the finish line.

The Senate no doubt has many competing priorities and a compressed timeline to address pending legislation. But addressing rising gas prices must become a focus of the upper chamber. The Senate has the power to immediately drive down gas prices. And farmers across the country are here to help them do just that.

Jed Bower, an Ohio corn and soybean farmer, is president of the National Corn Growers Association.