Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News
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Last week, when Republicans passed their energy bill, they also passed a provision that would prevent the Department of Energy from imposing stricter regulations on gas stoves.
The measure, which came in the form of an amendment to the larger H.R. 1 energy bill, passed by what in modern America constitutes a Congressional landslide, 251-to-181.
However, it is appended to a larger bill that passed mostly along party lines and which President Joe Biden has vowed to veto if it survived the Senate.
Twenty-nine Democrats crossed the aisle and joined with 222 Republicans to pass the amendment.
“Glad the House passed my amendment to H.R. 1 preventing @ENERGY from banning 50% of gas stoves on the market,” Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), who proposed the amendment, tweeted. “This de facto gas stove ban was supported by 181 Democrats who are complicit in Biden’s quest to control your kitchen appliances.”
Glad the House passed my amendment to H.R. 1 preventing @ENERGY from banning 50% of gas stoves on the market.
This de facto gas stove ban was supported by 181 Democrats who are complicit in Biden's quest to control your kitchen appliances.https://t.co/N1wVNU7J3E
— Gary Palmer (@USRepGaryPalmer) March 29, 2023
The Biden administration came under fire in January after news leaked that a nationwide gas-stove ban was being considered. The administration later insisted no such ban was in the making, but the DOE is working toward adding regulations for new stove installations.
Palmer, in a brief interview with Fox, expressed a great deal of doubt about Democrats’ sincerity.
“Despite all their words to the contrary, House Democrats are supportive of federal bureaucrats’ attempts to ban gas stoves,” Palmer said. “By voting against my amendment to prevent the Department of Energy from implementing its anti-natural gas agenda, they have shown themselves to be complicit.”
He continued, “Clearly, the plan to ban gas stoves was already in the works even before federal bureaucrats said the quiet part out loud earlier this year,” he said. “Republicans are meeting this attempt to dismantle American energy head-on and will continue to empower Americans to choose what appliances belong in their kitchens, not have it dictated to them by a bureaucrat with a political agenda.”
As previously outlined by FISM, there is a real chance H.R. 1 passes the Senate. There are enough moderate Democrats, especially those from states with immense economic dependency on fossil fuels, that it is likely enough aisle-crossers will emerge.
The Biden veto, though, looms large and it is far less likely that Republicans have the votes to override such an action.
About 40 million Americans rely on gas stoves for cooking and the operation of their households.