WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo (both R-Idaho) joined more than 20 of their colleagues in urging the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to abandon their proposal that would subject new single and multifamily homes insured or guaranteed by the agencies to unrealistic and overly burdensome energy efficiency standards. The proposal would reduce the supply of new housing, increase costs on residential contractors, and significantly impact low-income households.
“Over the last few years, the Biden administration has demonstrated a reckless commitment to forcing its unrealistic environmental agenda onto various aspects of the economy via its push toward electrification, regulating household appliances, and the stifling of conventional American energy production,” wrote the senators. “So it is not at all surprising that the administration is now forcing its agenda onto families purchasing or renting a home, all while admitting that ‘lower-income households . . . may be challenged in their ability to address first costs.’ To that end, we request that you abandon this effort and conduct an honest evaluation as to how adoption of the revised international energy conservation code (IECC) and American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards would increase costs and give special attention to the affect adoption would have on lower-income families.”
In addition to Risch and Crapo, the letter was also signed by U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.).
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