WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-Texas), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today made the following statement after the Environmental Protection Agency denied the state of Texas’ request to reduce the Renewable Fuel Standard requirement:

Government programs that unexpectedly hurt the poor, raise grocery bills, and artificially increase feed prices should be waived, period. That’s what the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) does and that’s why it should be suspended in the short-term and revisited in the long-term. 

Texas is experiencing real hardship due to this restrictive and unnecessary RFS policy and has exercised its Congressionally-mandated, Presidentially-authorized right to object.  It’s disheartening that the Environmental Protection Agency is unwilling or unable to waive this mandate and offer some measure of relief to American families and businesses in this economic environment.