Key Vote YES on H.R. 1640 and YES on H.R. 277

The American Energy Alliance supports H.R. 1640 the Save Our Gas Stoves Act and H.R. 277 Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act. 

H.R. 1640 would prevent the Department of Energy from proceeding with its overreaching and illegal rulemaking which would ban at least 40% of all gas stoves and as many as 100% of gas stoves with certain features preferred by consumers. While claiming this rulemaking is about energy efficiency, in reality it is just one part of the administration’s broad effort to eliminate natural gas powered appliances entirely. The claimed savings are minuscule, only averaging $1.08 per year, which makes the rule entirely unjustified and contrary to the plain text of statute.

The attempted overreach by the Department of Energy highlights the need for a second piece of legislation, H.R. 277 the REINS Act. Expensive and unjustified regulatory adventurism from the executive branch is increasingly common, under administrations of both parties. It is long past time for Congress to take back some of the power it handed over to the regulatory state. Requiring Congress to approve major rules would provide a necessary check on extreme executive regulatory action as well as rebalancing the administrative state to make it more accountable to the American people.

A YES vote on H.R. 1640 and a YES vote on H.R. 277 are votes in support of free markets and affordable energy. AEA will include these votes in its American Energy Scorecard.