Austin News

On May 21, 2024, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution authored by Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) disapproving a Department of Energy rule on gas furnace efficiency standards. The rule, which would effectively ban non-condensing gas furnace models, was criticized for potentially increasing costs for American families.

Senator Cruz stated, "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."

Prior to the vote, Senator Cruz addressed the Senate floor: "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 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."

In February 2024, Senator Cruz introduced this disapproval resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Previously in January 2023, he sent an oversight letter with Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to push back against regulating or banning gas stoves over safety concerns.

The bipartisan collaboration continued with Senators Cruz and Manchin introducing legislation titled Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act in February 2023 to block such bans by CPSC. In July 2023, they also introduced an amendment preventing CPSC from banning gas stoves which was incorporated into FY24 Financial Services and General Government funding bill.