Feenstra Leads Colleagues in Urging Secretary Vilsack to Unfreeze CFAP, Provide Authorized Assistance for Biofuels Producers

WASHINGTON -- Today, Rep. Randy Feenstra (IA-04) led his colleagues in sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging the USDA to reopen the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) immediately to provide much-needed assistance to biofuels producers and farmers across the country. Feenstra joined Reps. Rodney Davis (IL-13), Michelle Fischbach (MN-07), Jim Hagedorn (MN-01), Dusty Johnson (SD-AL), and Adrian Smith (NE-03) in leading this effort.

The Biden administration froze CFAP back in January pending regulatory review. Now, it has been over two months since farmers that were most severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic have had access to the timely relief they need. Thus far, biofuels producers have not been able to seek assistance through CFAP -- but in December, Congress provided explicit authorization to allow biofuels to be included in the CFAP program.

“While the biofuels industry, along with our other impacted agricultural producers have waited for nearly two months for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to reopen, our local farmers continue to struggle,”the members wrote.“CFAP has played a critical role in keeping many of our local farming operations afloat prior to the Administration’s freeze on the Program that started in January. Assistance must resume and action must be taken immediately to provide parity, and much-needed assistance to the biofuels industry.”

The full text of the letter can be found below:

As you know, as part of the agricultural economy, the biofuels industry has been subject to immense financial distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of our local ethanol and biofuels plants continue to recover from dramatic demand loss in 2020. While demand for fuel has increased, past losses must be addressed. 

Rural communities and agricultural economies where the biofuels industry plays a major role are still grappling with the economic impacts of COVID-19. To that end, we respectfully urge you to use remaining funds provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stabilization (CARES) Act (P.L 116-136) and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (P.L. 116-240), to support our biofuels producers. These packages passed on an overwhelming bipartisan basis with the intent of providing broad assistance to producers, and biofuels should not be left out. 

While the biofuels industry, along with our other impacted agricultural producers have waited for nearly two months for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to reopen, our local farmers continue to struggle. CFAP has played a critical role in keeping many of our local farming operations afloat prior to the Administration’s freeze on the Program that started in January. Assistance must resume and action must be taken immediately to provide parity, and much-needed assistance to the biofuels industry. 

We encourage you to expeditiously reopen the program and provide aid to our local biofuels producers and processors to sustain good-paying local jobs, and keep key markets open to our local farmers. It is critical that this Administration acknowledge Congressional intent and provide targeted relief to the biofuels industry as outlined in the bipartisan Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (P.L. 116-240), and quickly send payments to our local producers. 

We stand ready and look forward to working with you on solutions to bolster Rural America and to ensure relief for the biofuels industry along with other sectors of the agricultural economy. Thank you for your consideration of this request. 

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