Republicans are turning up the heat on gas stove bans.
Two bills are soon coming up in the House, The Hill reported: One to prohibit the use of federal funds to ban the devices, and one to block an Energy Department rule instituting energy conservation standards for some consumer products that Republicans claim would remove some gas stoves from stores.
The furor fired up when the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Oct. 25 floated new regulations on gas stoves. The agency's chair later said no ban was being contemplated.
In the first piece of new legislation the House could consider this week — the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act — calls for prohibiting the use of federal funds to ban gas stoves.
According to The Hill, the measure would specifically bar any federal funds from being used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission for regulating a gas stove "as a banned hazardous product," or for enforcing consumer product safety standards or rules on gas stoves that would result in a ban on gas stoves in the United States or "substantially increase the average price of gas stoves in the United States."
The Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act takes aim at an Energy Department rule that "prescribed energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including consumer conventional cooking products."
The legislation aims to bar the Energy Department secretary from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing the rule and blocks the official from implementing an energy conservation standard that would lead to a ban of a kitchen range or stove based on the fuel it uses, The Hill reported.
Republicans have pushed back at any ban, labeling it government overreach.
According to The Hill, the office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., claimed Sunday that "the proposed conservation rules would remove at least half of U.S. stove models from stores."
In March, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told the House Appropriations Committee that the department's proposed regulations for new gas stoves wouldn't effect half the gas stove models on the market.
"The full range of gas stoves absolutely is not affected. In fact, half of the gas stoves that are on the market right now wouldn't even be impacted," she said.
"This does not impact the majority and it certainly doesn't say that anybody who has a gas stove would have their gas stove taken away. ... There's no ban on gas stoves. I have a gas stove. It is just about making the existing electric and gas stoves and all the other appliances more efficient."
The debate was triggerted by CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. floating potential regulations, saying during a virtual webinar that a formal request for information on hazards associated with gas stoves and potential solutions represents "the first step in what could be a long journey toward regulating gas stoves," The Hill reported.
In a later statement, The Hill noted, the CPSC chair said: "I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so."
Yet in March, CPSC announced it had approved a formal request for information on any hazards associated with gas stoves and possible solutions — a possible step toward potential regulations, The Hill noted.
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