House Passes Legislation To Block Biden's Fossil Fuel Policy

Last month, the GOP-controlled U.S. House passed legislation to block what they see as yet another attack on fossil fuels and another instance of overreach by the Biden administration. Democrats said the president is not overreaching but that Republicans are overreacting.

In February, the Department of Energy proposed a new rule to improve the efficiency of gas and electric stoves. 

When the Consumer Product Safety Commission, one month later, approved a study on the potential hazards of gas stove emissions, Republicans decided to take action.

"We all have to understand that when Joe Biden was running for president," Rep. Josh Brecheen said in a recent interview, "he made his desire known as a candidate that he was going after the fossil fuel industry."

Congressman Brecheen (R-OK2) said, as president, that’s just what Biden has done, upending oil and gas production by shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline and pausing new drilling permits on federal land, while also trying to suppress consumption through green energy tax credits and now by targeting a popular home appliance.

"Yeah, it sounds crazy to the average American listening to this," Brecheen continued, "going, 'My government is wanting to restrict the utilization of gas stoves?'"

It sounds crazy, Democrats say, because it is simply not true.

"I just don’t quite understand the energy and hysteria almost in places about gas stoves," said Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky incredulously, "no one is taking away your gas stove."

During floor debate, Democrats accused Republicans of spreading misinformation about the proposed DOE rule and the CPSC study and questioned how they could be so opposed to efforts to make kitchen stoves more energy-efficient and safe for homeowners.

"This prevents information," Rep. Schakowsky, the ranking member of the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee, concluded. "I want to say to you: Get your heads out of the gas stove and let’s let the facts be told."

It’s a fact that in recent years, numerous Democrat-controlled cities have enacted bans on the purchase of new gas stoves in an effort to fight climate change. In response, more than 20 states, including Oklahoma, have passed preemption laws which effectively prevent such bans.

House Republicans are hoping to do the same thing at the federal level.

The two pieces of legislation, the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act and Save Our Gas Stoves Act, each passed with some Democratic support, but it does not appear the Senate will take up either.