Sens. Cruz, Manchin Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Stop the Federal Government from Banning Gas Stoves

February 2, 2023

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), incoming Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today introduced the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, legislation that would block the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from banning gas stoves.

 

Upon introducing this legislation, Sen. Cruz said:

 

“Make no mistake, radical environmentalists want to stop Americans from using natural gas. The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s proposed ban on gas stoves is the latest egregious scaremongering by the Far Left and their Biden administration allies.  I am pleased to partner with Senator Manchin in this bipartisan effort to stop the federal government from issuing regulations that put the interests of the Green New Deal before the well-being of American families.”

 

Sen. Manchin said:

“The federal government has no business telling American families how to cook their dinner, which is why Senator Cruz and I introduced bipartisan legislation to ensure Americans decide how to cook in their own homes. I can tell you the last thing that would ever leave our house is the gas stove we cook on, and I will continue to fight any overreach by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.”

 

The legislation precludes CPSC from using federal funds to ban gas stoves or impose regulations that would substantially increase the costs of gas stoves to make them unaffordable for Americans. The full text of this legislation is available here.

 

Read more about Sen. Cruz’s efforts in response to the CPSC’s proposed ban on gas stoves here.

Background:

  • On October 25, 2022, CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka, Jr. sought to initiate a notice of proposed rulemaking at the CPSC to ban gas stoves in homes. 
  • On October 26, 2022, the CPSC adopted CPSC Commissioner Trumka’s proposal to conduct a request for information (RFI) on public input on the “hazards associated with gas stoves”— the likely first step of the CPSC’s process to partially or totally ban gas stoves.
  • On January 9, 2023, Bloomberg published an article titled, ‘US Safety Agency to Consider Ban on Gas Stoves Amid Health Fears,’ in which CPSC Commissioner Trumka claimed that ‘[gas stoves are] a hidden hazard . . . . Any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.’

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