Congress extends biodiesel tax break 17 months, funded by all taxpayers
S. 3297 — CROP Act · Filed by Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Dec 2, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill extends the federal biodiesel fuel tax credit from its December 31, 2024 expiration date to May 31, 2026, allowing biodiesel producers and blenders to continue claiming a per-gallon credit on their federal taxes. It also adds a safeguard preventing double-dipping: producers cannot claim both the biodiesel credit and a newer clean-fuel credit (section 45Z) for the same fuel.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward extension of an existing tax credit for biodiesel producers. The anti-double-benefit clause is a technical safeguard, not the primary purpose. The bill is a narrow industry subsidy dressed in neutral legislative language.
What the text implies
- The 17-month extension (to May 31, 2026) may be timed to influence 2026 farm-state politics or to allow biodiesel producers to plan around a future expiration, creating pressure for further extensions.
- The anti-double-benefit clause (new subsection (g)) prevents producers from stacking the biodiesel credit with the newer, broader clean-fuel credit (45Z), which may limit the incentive for biodiesel producers to transition to cleaner production methods.
- The effective date (November 30, 2025) creates a retroactive application window, potentially allowing producers to claim credits for fuel already sold between the original expiration (Dec 31, 2024) and the bill's enactment.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill extends a tax credit that reduces federal revenue without a corresponding public benefit to ordinary citizens. Biodiesel producers and blenders capture the full value of the credit; consumers do not see lower fuel prices (tax credits do not automatically translate to pump savings). The credit is a subsidy to a specific industry sector funded by general taxpayers.
Who stands to gain
- biodiesel producers
- biodiesel blenders
- agricultural commodity processors
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Code Section 40A, Internal Revenue Code Section 45Z, Internal Revenue Code Section 6426, Internal Revenue Code Section 6427, biodiesel fuel industry
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Dec 2, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Dec 2, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $720,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 164 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Marsha Blackburn, the sponsor, reported $133,620 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Trucking Associations — $720,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,149 characters) on Jun 10, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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