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No contact yet between Grassley and Cruz

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he has not talked to Texas Senator Ted Cruz since Cruz’s recent meeting with President Trump.

Cruz and other oil-state senators met with Trump last week to express their concerns about the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Trump reportedly encouraged those senators to work out a compromise with their Midwestern counterparts.

Grassley tells reporters it’s still not clear to him what the oil-state senators are looking for.

“I’ve heard people talk about a win-win situation for refiners and the RFS, but I’ve never seen any language,” Grassley says, “and before I sit down and talk to anybody, I would like to see what their ideas are so I can have a basis for determining if there is a possibility for negotiation.”

But Grassley says anything that weakens the RFS is not an option.

“I’ve looked at possibilities–and with any compromise, I see Iowa losing,” he says.

There’s also been no word on whether Cruz is ready to lift his hold on Iowa ag secretary Bill Northey’s USDA nomination vote, Grassley says.

“No evidence of it, at this point.”

Cruz placed his hold on the Northey vote in October and used it as leverage to gain his meeting with Trump.

AUDIO: Excerpts from Grassley’s conference call with ag journalists