Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is blasting the Biden administration for raising the possibility of a federal ban on gas stoves.
"When we say don't tread on Florida or let us alone, we mean that, including on your gas stoves! You're not taking our gas stoves away from us. That's your choice! I know many people who cook a lot who do not want to part with their gas stoves," DeSantis said at a press conference Thursday, according to the Florida Politics website.
"We're going to stand up for that," he said. "You know, they float this to try to do, and they want to do it, let's just be honest. And then you start to see the narrative kick into gear. CNN segments saying it's causing asthma in kids, and all this other stuff. And then they start propagating the narrative, but then they got blowback, so they've kind of had to retreat from that.
"And now the narrative machine is like 'Oh, why are these conservatives talking about gas stoves! They're trying to stoke issues.' No. You were trying to do it and we're fighting back. The bottom line is anything they can get away with, they're going to get away with. And this is just a perfect example of that."
Touching off the remarks by the Florida Republican were comments by Richard Trumka Jr., a member of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Trumka had said in an interview that he had not ruled out a ban on certain appliances, The Washington Post reported. His words prompted the agency to backtrack on Wednesday and note it was not planning a ban.