A parade of potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates courted Iowa’s farm voters Saturday, with a divide emerging among them over support for popular subsidies to corn growers.
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad set the tone, warning the hopefuls “Don’t mess with the RFS,” a reference to the Renewable Fuel Standard, that mandates that a certain amount of renewable fuels, mostly corn-based ethanol, be blended into gasoline and diesel. Ads backing the standard aired on giant screens between the speakers.
And indeed, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the presidential caucus in 2008 in the corn-growing state, pledged fealty to the standards, with Huckabee insisting they’re key to energy independence.
“It’s not just ‘It’s Iowa, it’s a caucus state, we better suck up to them,” Huckabee said. “We need the broadest possible energy portfolio so America will never at a point be held hostage.”
Graham suggested that every gallon of ethanol produced reduces by a gallon “what you have to buy from people who hate your guts.”
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he’d support the federal ethanol standard at least for now.
“It’s something I’m willing to go forward on renewing … so farmers going forward planting crops know what the standard is,” Walker said. He added, though, that he’d eventually like to phase it out.
Some conservatives in Congress and the oil industry want to scrap the rule, saying it’s purpose of lessening dependence on foreign oil is no longer relevant now that the United States in the midst of an oil boom.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, appearing in the state for the first time in more than two years, declined to commit to the fuel standard, saying the fuel standard legislation that his brother signed into law in 2007 “has worked for sure,” but that the markets should determine the outcome.
“I would suggest to you ultimately, whether it is ethanol or any other alternative fuel, renewable or otherwise, the markets ultimately are going to have to decide,” said Bush. He has said that the Republican nominee should be prepared to “lose the primary to win the general” – a caution against treading too far to the right in the primaries.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he wouldn’t “do the easy thing” and tell the summit that he backs the standard, saying that Washington shouldn’t be “picking winners and losers.”
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry opposed the standards, noting that he had asked for waivers from the program in his state.
“I don’t think you pull it out and discriminate and leave all these other subsidies and mandates in place,” he said. “But I don’t think DC should be picking winners and losers when it comes to agricultural products.”
An Iowa-based pro-ethanol group called America’s Renewable Future chastised Cruz and Perry for their stances, but did not take Bush’s remarks as a rebuke, noting that Bush said the standard had worked and “has been a benefit to us as we have reduced our dependency on foreign sources of oil.”
The candidates found common ground on opposing increased trade with Cuba, a move championed by agricultural interests in several farm states.
“We should ultimately trade with Cuba when Cuba is free,” Bush said. Reminded that the U.S. trades with China, Bush said China offers the U.S. “huge economic opportunities” while Cuba, an island of 11 million people “is impoverished and it’s a dictatorship.”
Christie cited Havana’s decision to provide safe harbor to U.S. fugitives, including JoAnne Chesimard, a Black Liberation Army member who was convicted of murder in the death of a policeman during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike.
“You cannot start trading with a country that is promoting a cop-killer,” Christie said. “We need prerequisites before we deal with Cuba.”
As he did with nearly question, Christie used the opportunity to bash Obama, saying that his Cuba agreement illustrates that he “doesn’t know how to negotiate. You don’t give away the idea of trading with America for nothing.”
Huckabee, who reversed his support for lifting the embargo ahead of his 2008 presidential bid, said he wouldn’t increase trade with Cuba until its government “makes some concessions for freedom and liberty and releases political prisoners.”
The candidates also opposed efforts to label genetically-engineered foods – a proposal that has support from activists but faces opposition from biotech companies and the manufacturers of packaged foods.
“I have a feeling it has a lot more to do with political correctness than it does with safety,” Huckabee said.
Bush said he opposes those efforts, but backs labeling for the country of origin, saying he’ll pick up some “Iowa beef” at his local Publix supermarket in Coral Gables, Fla., on Sunday, along with avocados for “really good guacamole.”
The candidates split on immigration, with Bush defending his immigration stance that some conservatives view warily, saying that the U.S. needs the workers.
“If we want to be young and dynamic and growing again, I think we need to fix this broken system,” Bush said, calling for a path to legal status for immigrants who are in the U.S. without the proper documentation.
“No one I know has a plan to deal w illegal immigration, to say they’re going to be rounded up taken away,” Bush said, calling for illegal immigrants to earn legal status “over the long haul” after paying fines and learning English.
“This is the only serious, thoughtful way to deal with this,” Bush said.
Graham, too, called for a path to legal status, warning that the debate and impasse is “hurting the party.”
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