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Republicans are warning that the Biden administration is coming for your stove if it’s fueled by gas.
Shortly after an article this week quoted a member of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission saying the agency was considering a ban on gas stoves, GOP lawmakers seized on the remarks by arguing President Joe Biden and government bureaucrats were reaching into America’s kitchens and trying to dictate meal prep.
GOP Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, called it a “power grab” by Biden.
“Gas stoves are the next thing the Biden Administration is coming after,” he tweeted. “Washington bureaucrats should have no say in how Americans prepare their dinner.”
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., told Biden to “get your hands off our gas stoves!!!!”
Rep. Troy Balderson, R-Ohio, turned up the heat by suggesting a gas stove ban was evidence that Biden’s “weaponization of the federal bureaucracy and faux science” had reached a “fever-pitch.”
In the Senate, GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina tweeted: “You can always count on Biden to GASLIGHT the American people.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., added: “Democrats are coming for your kitchen appliances. Their desire to control every aspect of your life knows no bounds—including how you make breakfast. They just can’t help themselves.”
But it turns out much of the rhetoric may have been overheated.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Consumer Product Safety Commission said there was no official proposal on the matter and that any action to regulate gas stoves would involve a “lengthy process.”
Richard Trumka Jr., the commissioner who floated the idea of a ban in an interview with Bloomberg News, also tweeted that the commission “isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves,” adding that any regulations would apply to new products, not existing stoves.
His initial comments, however, had already caught fire.
The American Gas Association put out a statement suggesting that the concerns over the safety of natural gas are “baseless” and “misguided.”
“Attempts to generate consumer fears with baseless allegations to justify the banning of natural gas is a misguided agenda that will not improve the environment or the health of consumers and would saddle vulnerable populations with significant costs,” the trade group said.
Back on Capitol Hill, Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia sought to set the record straight about his role in all of this.
Last month, Beyer joined Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., in writing a letter urging the chair of the safety commission, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, to act on concerns about harmful indoor air pollutants emitted by gas stoves.
“There’s been a lot of gaslighting today about gas stoves,” Beyer tweeted Tuesday. “To be clear, I didn’t call for a ban on gas stoves. @SenBooker and I wrote to @USCPSC asking them to consider ways to reduce potential health risks, which include childhood asthma.”
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