Manchin and Cruz team up on bill to protect gas stoves

Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a new bill Thursday that would prevent the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) from banning gas stoves. 

The Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act comes on the heels of national debate over gas stoves after a CPSC commissioner raising the prospect of a ban on the appliances, citing studies that show gas stoves reduce air quality in homes and can lead to an increased risk of asthma in children in some cases. 

The CPSC has not considered any official recommendations to ban or limit the sale of gas stoves. 

“I’ll tell you one thing, they’re not taking my gas stove out,” Manchin said at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday. “My wife and I would both be upset.” 

That commissioner’s statements sparked online outrage from conservatives, with viral tweets of people leaving on their gas stoves and segments featured on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show. 

Manchin announced the new bill in the committee meeting Thursday, and found support from committee ranking member John Barrasso (R-Wyo.).

“What has reached a boiling point is anger against the Biden administration’s insanity of proposing to ban gas stoves. It’s astonishing,” Barrasso said.

David Turk, the deputy Energy secretary, reiterated to the committee that neither the department nor the Biden administration has any intention of banning gas stoves. The White House made similar statements last month.

The debate reignited last week when the Energy Department introduced new efficiency standards for household appliances, but Turk said every major manufacturer already has appliances that meet those standards and that it would not result in a ban or limit on gas stoves.

Still, Cruz said in a statement that the bill was a necessary guard against “radical environmentalists.”

“Make no mistake, radical environmentalists want to stop Americans from using natural gas,” he said. “The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s proposed ban on gas stoves is the latest egregious scaremongering by the Far Left and their Biden administration allies.”

Updated at 11:48 a.m.