Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

4 days ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

4 days ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

4 days ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

4 days ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

5 days ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

5 days ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

5 days ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

5 days ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

5 days ago
Stove Wars: Republican-Controlled House Takes up Bills to Protect Gas Stoves
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
June 14, 2023

Share

Venturing back into the nation’s culture wars, the Republican-controlled House is taking up legislation that GOP lawmakers say would protect gas stoves from overzealous government regulators.

A bill approved Tuesday would prohibit use of federal funds to regulate gas stoves as a hazardous product, while a separate bill set for a vote Wednesday would block an Energy Department rule setting stricter energy efficiency standards for stovetops and ovens.

Both bills were set for approval last week, but action was postponed after House conservatives staged a mini-revolt in retaliation for Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership on a measure to raise the debt ceiling. Led by outspoken members of the House Freedom Caucus, 11 Republicans broke with their party on an otherwise routine procedural vote that threw the House schedule into disarray for a full week.

McCarthy appeared to resolve the dispute late Monday after promising more meetings with GOP holdouts and seeking to reduce future federal spending.

With the impasse resolved, GOP lawmakers resumed their focus on gas stoves and bureaucratic rules that Republicans call classic government overreach.

“It’s not a petty concern to the hard-working Americans who will be impacted,″ said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. “The last thing they need is to have the Biden administration’s Green New Deal regulatory assault reach their kitchen appliances.”

The bill targeting regulation of gas stoves as hazardous was approved, 248-180.

The White House said President Joe Biden opposes both GOP bills as blocking “common-sense efforts to help Americans cut their energy bill.″ Neither bill is expected to advance in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Dozens of Democratic-controlled cities, including San Francisco and Berkeley, California, have moved to ban new buildings from using gas stoves as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve indoor air quality . New York state approved a law last month banning natural gas stoves and furnaces in most new buildings.

Fears of a national ban grew after a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in January that “any option is on the table” when it comes to regulating gas stoves, which have been linked to poor indoor air quality and health harms such as asthma. The remark prompted online images of the government dragging four-burner cooktops from homes, as social media users and GOP lawmakers vowed to defend the popular appliances.

Debate reignited after the Energy Department proposed a rule requiring both gas and electric stoves and cooktops to use more efficient designs and technologies.

The Energy Department rule, which has not yet been finalized, could ban about half of gas stove models currently sold in the United States as of 2027, according to an Energy Department analysis. The rule would apply only to sale of new appliances and would not affect stoves already in homes or businesses.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington state, called the DOE plan “just the latest in a long line of power grabs by the radical left and Biden administration.”

The rule is “not about public safety. It is about telling the American people the federal government knows best and will decide what kind of car they can drive, how they can heat their house and now how they’re allowed to cook food for their families,” McMorris Rodgers said.

Forcing Americans to switch to more expensive alternatives to natural gas will increase costs while disproportionately harming the poor and low-income families, she said.

Democrats called those concerns overheated.

“This is nothing more than a conspiracy theory cooked up to embroil Congress in culture wars that shed more heat than light on the issues facing our nation,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pennsylvania.

No Proposal to Ban Gas Stoves

“Contrary to the heated rhetoric from our colleagues across the aisle, the federal government has not proposed to remove appliances from Americans’ homes,” Scanlon said. The proposed Energy Department rule would save consumers up to $1.7 billion and cut down on emission that are dangerous to children’s health, she added.

The bill blocking regulation of unsafe gas stoves threatens the government’s ability to identify and regulate appliances with design defects that could cause injury or death, Scanlon said, noting that that the consumer safety panel recently recalled gas stove models that placed consumers at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

An Energy Department spokeswoman said the proposed rule is “intended for nothing more than increasing energy efficiency and promoting innovation, without sacrificing the reliability and performance that Americans have come to expect.”

The White House said the administration “has been clear that it does not support any attempt to ban the use of gas stoves.”

Eliminating the energy efficiency rule would “deny the American people the savings that come with having more efficient new appliances on the market when they choose to replace an existing appliance,” the White House said in a statement, while approval of the other bill “would undermine science-based Consumer Product Safety Commission decision-making.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Netanyahu Nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

DON'T MISS

Netanyahu Meets Trump at White House as Israel, Hamas Discuss Ceasefire

DON'T MISS

Trump Executive Order Seeks End to Wind and Solar Energy Subsidies

DON'T MISS

US Threatens California With Legal Action Over Transgender Sports Law

DON'T MISS

US Veterans Affairs Will Cut Nearly 30,000 Jobs, Far Fewer Than Planned

DON'T MISS

Houston Astros Donate $1M to Help Recovery From Texas Floods

DON'T MISS

Tucker Carlson Aired Interview With President of Iran

DON'T MISS

California Fails to Stop 23andMe Founder From Re-Acquiring Company

DON'T MISS

Madera County Multi-Agency Effort Leads to Arrest of Felony Suspect in Atwater

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest DUI Driver During Crackdown on Illegal Street Racing and Sideshows

UP NEXT

Trump Executive Order Seeks End to Wind and Solar Energy Subsidies

UP NEXT

US Threatens California With Legal Action Over Transgender Sports Law

UP NEXT

July 4 Weekend Was No Picnic for Fresno-Area Firefighters. How Bad Did It Get?

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Acknowledges Lack of Evidence From Epstein Documents

UP NEXT

Trump Says US Will Impose 25% Tariffs on Japan, South Korea

UP NEXT

Planned Parenthood Sues Trump Administration Over Planned Defunding

UP NEXT

Schumer Wants Probe of National Weather Service Response in Texas

UP NEXT

Trump Criticized for Using Antisemitic ‘Shylock’ to Describe Bankers

UP NEXT

Tesla Slides as Musk’s ‘America Party’ Heightens Investor Worries

UP NEXT

Trump to Terminate Deportation Protection for Thousands of Hondurans and Nicaraguans in US

US Threatens California With Legal Action Over Transgender Sports Law

8 hours ago

US Veterans Affairs Will Cut Nearly 30,000 Jobs, Far Fewer Than Planned

8 hours ago

Houston Astros Donate $1M to Help Recovery From Texas Floods

8 hours ago

Tucker Carlson Aired Interview With President of Iran

8 hours ago

California Fails to Stop 23andMe Founder From Re-Acquiring Company

9 hours ago

Madera County Multi-Agency Effort Leads to Arrest of Felony Suspect in Atwater

9 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest DUI Driver During Crackdown on Illegal Street Racing and Sideshows

9 hours ago

July 4 Weekend Was No Picnic for Fresno-Area Firefighters. How Bad Did It Get?

10 hours ago

Tulare County Seizes 300 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks Over Fourth of July

10 hours ago

US Proposes Rules That Could Boost Oil, Gas Output in US West

10 hours ago

Netanyahu Nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

WASHINGTON – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday told President Donald Trump he had nominated him for the Nobel Peace ...

7 hours ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on during a bilateral dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured), at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 7, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
7 hours ago

Netanyahu Nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 7, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
7 hours ago

Netanyahu Meets Trump at White House as Israel, Hamas Discuss Ceasefire

A wind farm is shown in Movave, California, U.S., November 8, 2019. (Reuter File)
8 hours ago

Trump Executive Order Seeks End to Wind and Solar Energy Subsidies

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon testifies before a Senate Appropriations hearing on U.S. President Donald Trump's budget request for the Department of Education, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 3, 2025. (Reuters File)
8 hours ago

US Threatens California With Legal Action Over Transgender Sports Law

United States Department of Veterans Affairs logo and U.S. flag are seen in this illustration taken April 23, 2025. (Reuters File)
8 hours ago

US Veterans Affairs Will Cut Nearly 30,000 Jobs, Far Fewer Than Planned

A group of search and rescue workers paddle a boat in the Guadalupe River in the aftermath of deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, U.S., July 7, 2025. (Reuters/Sergio Flores)
8 hours ago

Houston Astros Donate $1M to Help Recovery From Texas Floods

8 hours ago

Tucker Carlson Aired Interview With President of Iran

Attendees visit the 23andMe booth at the RootsTech annual genealogical event in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., February 28, 2019. (Reuters File)
9 hours ago

California Fails to Stop 23andMe Founder From Re-Acquiring Company

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend