An amendment offered by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that would have stopped funding for Flex Fuel blender pumps was pulled before it came up for a vote this week.

“While the withdrawal of this amendment is an important milestone, we will continue to encourage Congress to oppose any other effort that would erect new barriers to the market,” said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis.

The amendment was proposed to the 2012 agriculture appropriations bill, which allocates $4.5 million for blender pumps by USDA. Meanwhile, the House has a similar version of the bill that would allocate only $2.3 million for USDA’s energy program with the provision that the funding not be used for pumps.