Senate Passes Resolution To Repeal Biden-Era Appliance Rule

The Senate passed a joint resolution to repeal a Department of Energy (DOE) appliance standard on Wednesday by a margin of 52-46, further advancing the roll-back of Biden-era green energy regulations on household appliances.

Republican Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde is the lead sponsor of the joint resolution of disapproval H.J. Res. 42, which aims to nullify a rule issued by the DOE on October 9, 2024 under former President Joe Biden which added new efficiency and reporting regulations for appliances such as dishwashers, washing machines and AC units. Sen. Jon Husted forwarded the resolution to the House, where it passed on March 5 on a bipartisan vote. 

“It’s important that my first bill to go to the president’s desk eliminates regulations for the American people instead of adding to them,” Republican Ohio Sen. Jon Husted who sponsored the House bill wrote in a press release provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Bureaucratic, out-of-touch regulations make it harder for taxpayers to afford appliances. My resolution would cut red tape for manufacturers, restore consumer choice and lower costs for hardworking Americans across the country,” he said.

Husted’s effort would rescind the new certification, labeling and enforcement requirements for 20 household and commercial products, including dishwashers, central air conditioning units, heat pumps and more.

“[W]e believe that regulatory power should be used judiciously. And it’s why we’re committed to eliminating rules that impose unjustified burdens,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on the senate floor Wednesday. “Often these regulations were part of the Biden administration’s radical climate agenda,” he continued.

“Over the last four years, the Biden administration subjected Americans to an onslaught of regulations. Altogether, the Biden regulatory agenda cost $1.8 trillion. It heaped thousands of hours of paperwork on business owners, energy producers, and other hardworking Americans. And to what end?” Thune added.

“I am hereby instructing Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders, which were terminated by Crooked Joe Biden, on Water Standards and Flow pertaining to SINKS, SHOWERS, TOILETS, WASHING MACHINES, DISHWASHERS, etc., and to likewise go back to the common sense standards on LIGHTBULBS, that were put in place by the Trump Administration, but terminated by Crooked Joe,” President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on February 11. “I look forward to signing these Orders. THANK YOU!!!”

Clyde’s office and the White House did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.