May 22, 2024 - WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued the following statement after the Senate voted in a bipartisan manner to pass a resolution he authored disapproving of a Department of Energy rule on gas furnace efficiency standards. The rule would effectively ban non-condensing gas furnace models, dramatically increasing costs for American families.

About the vote, Sen. Cruz said, “Today was a win for Texas families, and indeed families across America, who under this rule would be forced to spend thousands of dollars to change their furnaces. This rule was proposed and finalized by the Biden administration’s Department of Energy as part of a broader, radical campaign against fossil fuels, clean natural gas, and other sources of energy critical to the American economy and American families. I am proud that the Senate passed my resolution in a bipartisan fashion, and I urge the House to take up this Resolution expeditiously and pass it.”

Before the vote Sen. Cruz gave a speech on the Senate floor, in which he said, “This rule is a continuation of the Biden administration's capitulation to environmental radicals who value following climate dogma more than helping families actually provide for their kids and save for the future. Joe Biden, when he campaigned in 2020, told voters that if they elected him, he would halt drilling onshore and offshore in the United States. [During] his first week in office, he shut down the Keystone pipeline, and destroyed 11,000 jobs with a stroke of a pen, including 8,000 union jobs. Joe Biden shut down all new leases on federal land onshore and offshore. He shut down development in Anwar putting in place banking regulators and SEC regulators to cut off debt financing, and to cut off equity financing for energy exploration and development. He put a tax on natural gas production, despite the cost of living crisis many Americans are facing, because of failed Democrat policies. That’s why I introduced this Congressional Review Act. To help alleviate the unending assault on American families from President Biden and the Democrats radical energy agenda.”

Watch the speech here.

BACKGROUND

• In February 2024, Sen. Cruz introduced this disapproval resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
• In January 2023, Sen. Cruz sent a joint oversight letter with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to push back against heavily regulating or banning gas stoves over safety concerns.
• In February 2023, Sen. Cruz and Sen. Manchin introduced a bipartisan bill, the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, legislation that would block the CPSC from banning gas stoves.
• In July 2023, Sen. Cruz and Sen. Manchin introduced a bipartisan amendment to stop CPSC from banning gas stoves, which was incorporated into the FY24 Financial Services and General Government funding bill.
  Source: Senator Ted Cruz