The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Nov. 13, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)
Posted on 12/07/2023 10:33:06 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The House of Representatives on Dec. 6 voted to pass a bill that will block a proposed rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to effectively mandate that most cars produced in the United States be fully electric by 2032.
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Nov. 13, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)
The bill, H.R. 4468, dubbed the Choice in Automobile Retail Sales Act of 2023, passed the House by a 221–197 vote. That included total GOP support; Democrats, meanwhile, sought to have the bill sent back to committee.
The bill would block an EPA rule that would require roughly 68 percent of cars manufactured in the United States be fully electric by 2032. The rule has won the support of President Joe Biden's administration.
Republicans have rallied against the proposed standards, which they say are unrealistic and threaten to undermine consumer freedom—as well as to increase U.S. dependence on China.
Around 90 percent of the rare earth minerals used to create electric vehicles (EVs) are sourced from the top U.S. adversary.
The broad support among Republicans for blocking the rule was on full display in November, when over 200 House and Senate Republicans signed onto a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urging opposition to the rule (pdf).
"While we are supportive of the free market producing electric vehicles to satisfy a market need, this misguided EPA mandate would have an immediate, detrimental impact on the choices and affordability of cars, trucks, and SUVs available to our constituents," the Republican signatories said. "It also increases America’s dependence on China."
Specifically, those who signed the letter pushed for the inclusion of a reversal of the EV standards to be included in the final draft of 2024 government funding.
"Not only would the EPA’s proposed regulation hurt America’s national security, but it would severely limit consumer choice for affordable vehicles that fit the needs of the average American," they wrote. "At a time of inflation, high interest rates, and rising costs, the last thing Americans need is to find both new and used vehicles unaffordable because of an EPA mandate."
The National Automobile Dealers Association has also criticized the EPA rule, which they called "too far, too fast."
In a Dec. 5 press conference the bill's sponsor, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) and other House Republicans spoke in support of the measure to overturn the rule prior to its vote on the floor.
“This standard … is unattainable, it’s unaffordable, and in fact it’s unrealistic,” Mr. Walberg said.
Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) agreed, saying that the notion that most vehicles should be fully electric by 2032 is "ridiculous."
She said, "If we force automakers to do this, they will bleed money, which will mean layoffs for employees of families who are already struggling under this administration, and manufacturing will move outside of the United States.
"That is not good for our taxpayers."
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), another enthusiastic supporter of the proposal, raised a series of concerns about the potential effects of a mandate.
Specifically, he pointed to the instability of the U.S. electric grid, which is currently unable to support a large-scale move toward EVs.
As proof of this, he pointed to a case in California a few years ago when Gov. Gavin Newsom asked Californians not to charge their EVs between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. due to strains on the electric grid.
"What do you do when you're stuck? What do you do when your wife is pregnant in the hospital?" Mr. Roy said. "These questions are existential threats to the well being of American families."
Despite its passage by the House, the legislation seems unlikely to pass muster in the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority.
And even if it did pass the Senate, President Biden has promised to veto the bill.
The White House has defended the rule, saying it's "projected to save Americans $12,000 over the lifetime of a new light-duty vehicle by accelerating adoption of technologies that reduce fuel and maintenance costs alongside pollution."
However, Republicans are unusually united behind the effort to overturn the rule, and this issue could become a key point of negotiations over spending next year.
If the current crop of Democrats had been in power forty years ago, they would have mandated that everyone use Betamax instead of VHS.
And 8-track instead of CDs
Of course, I also used OS/2 and Windows Phones, so, uh....
I remember receiving the advice of getting a Windows phone. I discounted it...my wife bought into it. Her phone lasted around two years before she dumped it.
Don’t you love Joe Biden, creates a rule and acts as if it was a law! Typical Lib, just implement your agenda anyway you can! Can’t get congress to pass the law, just create a rule and We’re off to the races….
I also had Beta, but I had a VHS too. Beta Hi-Fi was game changing. Listening to Raiders of the Lost Ark or Uncommon Valor through my Pioneer receiver was mind blowing. Then VHS came out with its own Hi-Fi system and that cut out some of Beta’s prestige. But VHS Hi-Fi was never as good as Beta’s sound quality.
PDJT Right Again!!!
>> And 8-track instead of CDs
Sorry, we can’t afford to subsidize your fantasies
The goal was unrealistic to begin with. Those when confronted with the reality of the situation, mostly would say it was a “stretch goal” that was not really intended to be met, but was put in place to make progress.
That kind of federal regulation is just utter rubbish.
A bipartisan overturning. It must be enacted.
Some Democrats join Republicans in voting to strike down Biden’s EV mandate
Oh, bullcrap. These savings either never materialize or are much less than they claim.
If the current crop of Democrats had been in power 40 years ago, millions of us wouldn’t be breathing by now.
The head engineer explained to me how Betamax was superior to VHS in terms of visual and technical quality. Two things killed it off in the retail marketplace. The first is that the head of Sony believed that nobody would want to record more than an hour's worth of programming. Something that VHS could do handily.
The second is that VHS became the format of choice for the porn industry.
“Don’t you love Joe Biden, creates a rule and acts as if it was a law! Typical Lib, just implement your agenda anyway you can! Can’t get congress to pass the law, just create a rule and We’re off to the races….”
Excellent. Exactly my thoughts ad soon as he did it in the first place. This is the discussion needing to be made. Why even acknowledge it as having any lawful power in the first place. There is no legally binding law to overturn. Now it has to go through the Senate and Biden has to sign it. And if this doesn’t happen, which it won’t, the mandate will be accepted as law because they failed to contest something that was not law in the first place.
These need to stop. Legally they are only symbolic and have no lawful powers.
I seem to recall that NO PRESIDENT has ever been declared a KING. I also recall that OUR Constitution expressly does not empower an ELECTED President to act as a KING.
So, Joey Crappy Pants the Pervert, Pedophile, and Sexual Deviant has NEVER BEEN nor WILL EVER be KING.
This Mandate BS that Democrats and Joey’s Diaper think are somehow “allowed” are flat out wrong. However, the Compromised, Infested, Indoctrinated, Liberal Marxist, COURTS have allowed this to occur.
True. An explicit threat should be made to heavily reduce the EPA budget if they do not follow directives of the House.
Furthermore, take the climate weenies at their word and start to zero out the EPA budget over 7 years since the planet will be unsavable no matter what the EPA does.
EC
So has the porn industry adopted EV’s as the vehicle of choice? Important information!
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