House votes to restrict feds from banning or regulating gas stoves

The House on Tuesday voted in favor of preventing the Consumer Product Safety Commission from banning gas stoves and also limiting the safety agency’s ability to regulate the products. 

Tuesday’s 248-180 vote comes after the legislation was put on the backburner last week after conservative Republicans decided to block floor action — putting the House floor in a state of paralysis and raising questions about Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) ability to control his conference.

The GOP conservatives joined Democrats to block a rule bringing the bill to the House floor last week. Rule votes are typically party-line votes and it was the first time in more than 20 years that a majority party in the House had lost a rule vote. Rules are necessary to govern House votes under the rules of the chamber unless a bill is brought to the floor under suspension of House rules. Doing so requires a supermajority.

On Monday, the conservative defectors announced they would stop blocking floor votes for now as they look to gain more power from party leadership and cut spending.

The gas stove vote comes after the suggestion of a ban sparked a firestorm in Washington. Republicans have sought to draw attention to the issue. 

The legislation is unlikely to be taken up by the Democratically-led Senate. The White House said that it opposes the legislation, but has stopped short of a veto threat. 

A total of 29 Democrats voted with Republicans in favor of the bill.

The House on Tuesday also approved an amendment from Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) that expanded the legislation beyond stoves, making the restrictions apply to commission bans on any type of appliance based on its fuel source.

Nevertheless, gas stoves have recently been a hot topic in Washington. 

Consumer Product Safety Commission member Richard Trumka Jr., a Biden appointee, made headlines earlier this year when he suggested that a ban for new gas stoves could be on the table. Republicans seized on his remark and have sought to play up the issue as an example of Democratic overreach into Americans’ lives.  

Amid the backlash, key figures, including commission Chairman Alexander Hoehn-Saric, also a Biden appointee,  said he did not want to ban gas stoves and the agency wasn’t poised to do so.

The commission appears to be unlikely to actually ban the gas stoves, but has signaled it could seek to impose some regulations upon them. 

The bill approved by the House on Tuesday not only says that the Consumer Product Safety Commission cannot ban the products, it also bars the agency from imposing other safety standards that increase their costs. 

Other solutions to the health issues that have been linked to gas stoves are not a ban but rather ther measures like performance standards.

Abe Scarr, director of the Illinois Public Interest Research group, which is part of a national network of organizations that advocate on environment and public health issues, acknowledged in an email to The Hill that mandating performance standards could increase prices. It’s possible that this type of measure would be barred under the legislation. 

Generally, left-wing groups have expressed concerns about gas stoves because they have been linked to childhood asthma and have been found to leak chemicals like the carcinogen benzene. 

Tuesday’s vote is the first of two the House is slated to take related to the gas stoves issue. The chamber is also expected to take up another bill that would block an Energy Department proposal with efficiency requirements for various cooking appliances including some gas stoves.

The 29 Democrats who crossed party lines to vote for the bill were: Reps. Colin Allred (Texas), Ami Bera (Calif.), Nikki Budzinski (Ill.), Yadira Caraveo (Colo.), Steve Cohen (Tenn.), Angie Craig (Minn.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Danny Davis (Ill.), Donald Davis (N.C.), Lizzie Fletcher (Texas), Sylvia Garcia (Texas), Jared Golden (Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Josh Harder (Calif.), Jahana Hayes (Conn.), Steven Horsford (Nev.), Jeff Jackson (N.C.), Greg Landsman (Ohio), Susie Lee (Nev.), Kathy Manning (N.C.), Jared Moskowitz (Fla.), Jimmy Panetta (Calif.), Mary Peltola (Alaska),   Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Terri Sewell (Ala.), Eric Sorensen (Ill.), Greg Stanton (Ariz.), Gabe Vasquez (N.M.), and Marc Veasey (Texas).