Duckworth: Kavanaugh is no friend to Midwestern farmers

After all, biofuels help make us more energy secure, and in doing so, they make our nation stronger and help us maintain our position as a world leader, which is why our country’s biofuel policy, known as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), has strong bipartisan support.

But while I’m working to strengthen this policy, Judge Brett Kavanaugh has been doing his best to undermine it. Kavanaugh is now in confirmation hearings for an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Time and again, he’s chosen Big Oil over everyday Americans, serving as the lone dissenter in decisions that have pitted the fossil fuel industry against our farmers.

In a recent case, Grocery Manufacturers Assoc. v. Environmental Protection Agency, he proved that his views on this issue are far more extreme than even President Trump’s, arguing that the EPA shouldn’t be allowed to make certain renewable fuels more accessible.

In another case, American Petroleum Institute v. EPA, Judge Kavanaugh voted to throw biofuel interests out of the court altogether, seemingly doing whatever he could to hand Big Oil a win.

With this president in office, it’s clearer than ever that we can’t take our basic civil liberties for granted, and that several generation-defining battles will be fought and won in this court. The battle for our farmers will be fought there, too.

For that reason and for so many more, I will be voting "no" on Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation — as should every other senator who cares more about helping American farmers get ahead than gaining favor with Big Oil companies.