Jefferson Reporter

U.S. Senators Katie Britt (R-Ala.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) recently joined U.S. Representative Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) in leading more than 150 of their colleagues in a bicameral letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan, urging the Biden Administration to overturn its de facto electric mandate on trucks, tractors, buses, and semis.

The final rule, entitled “Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles – Phase 3,” was published on April 22, 2024. The bicameral letter warned, “This rule will harm our families and businesses, increases our gas prices, and makes us more dependent on foreign supply chains – particularly China.”

“Our farmers and agricultural industry will be especially hurt by this new mandate. According to the latest agriculture census by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are 3,161,820 trucks (including pickups) on over 1.4 million farms and 3,784,743 tractors on over 1.5 million farms that would see higher equipment costs and tighter margins due to this misguided rule. These numbers also do not account for the small, independent truckers, trucking companies, and truck dealerships throughout the U.S. that will be impacted. Not only would this rule harm consumers, but it would also exacerbate consolidation by effectively forcing our small trucking companies out of business that cannot afford this hasty transition to electric or hydrogen powered trucks,” the lawmakers wrote.

“[W]e urge you to withdraw your final rule that is both unrealistic and burdensome,” the lawmakers continued. “This rule will only further increase costs for American families, businesses, and rural communities while fueling more inflation. We need to give Americans a choice in the cars and trucks that they drive, and affordability and performance for the trucking industry is paramount.”

A strong proponent of preserving consumers’ freedom to choose gas-powered vehicles, Senator Britt is also a cosponsor of Senator Crapo’s Choice in Automobile Retail Sales (CARS) Act to prohibit the EPA from moving forward with its EV mandate for passenger cars and trucks or any similar future rules that would limit the availability of new motor vehicles based on that vehicle’s engine type.

She is also a cosponsor of Senator Markwayne Mullin’s (R-Okla.) Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act. Earlier this year, Senator Britt joined a bicameral group of lawmakers in calling on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Deputy Administrator to rescind the Biden Administration’s proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and light-duty trucks which would effectively phase out gas-powered vehicles and mandate mass production of electric vehicles.