Consumers should have the opportunity to make the best decision for their budget that conforms to how they want to live, rather than feeling the grip of heavy-handed government mandates that tell them what type of products and services they will buy and use.  A prime example of government’s heavy hand in the marketplace are proposals to ban the use of gas stoves.  This idea has taken hold in several states and is beginning to spread.  In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the state’s budget on May 2, 2023, which made the state the first to officially ban the use of natural gas in residential buildings constructed after 2026. 

At the federal level, the idea is being bandied around by the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), following its initial proposal from Commissioner Richard L. Trumka, Jr.  Although it was initially believed that he first brought the idea up during an October 26, 2022 meeting with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG), emails uncovered by Fox News reporters suggest that he had contacted the New York City environmental group, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, in June 2022, to ask for assistance with regulations for gas stove standards under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act.  He told US PIRG, “We need to be talking about regulating gas stoves, whether it's drastically reducing emissions or banning gas stoves entirely.”  He added that the ban “is a powerful tool in our toolbox and it’s a real possibility here, particularly because there seem to be readily available alternatives already in the market.”

Trumka’s comments elicited a strong reaction from taxpayers and consumers, who vehemently objected to the potential removal of a highly popular appliance, which offers reliable and affordable cooking options to nearly 187 million Americans.  A White House spokesman, Michael Kikukawa, said in January 2023, “The President does not support banning gas stoves. … And the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is independent, is not banning gas stoves.”

While the CPSC has not yet acted, the Department of Energy issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on February 1, 2023, which could lead to the elimination of more than half of the gas stoves in homes across the country if adopted. 

The outrage over this idea has led the House of Representatives to consider legislation to stop both the CPSC and the Department of Energy from using federal funds to ban or disconnect gas stoves.  On Tuesday, June 4, 2023, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste sent a letter to Congress supporting H.R. 1640, the Save our Gas Stoves Act, and H.R. 1615, the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act, to prohibit a federal ban on these appliances.  House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) commented, “The Biden administration is trying to use the federal government’s power to dictate every aspect of our lives from what kind of car we can drive to how Americans are allowed to cook food for our families.”

The House passed H.R. 1615 by a vote of 248-180 on June 12, 2022, and H.R. 1640 by a vote of 249-181 on June 14, 2023.

A ban on gas stoves might have seemed to come out of nowhere, since it had never been seriously discussed or considered, but it is further evidence that proponents of the Green New Deal will do anything to push their agenda of forcing everyday Americans, including the 187 million who use gas cooking appliances, to comply with their top-down government mandated approach to climate change.  Gas stoves are not the only appliance that could be affected by bans on the use of natural gas.  Many other necessary and valuable products require using natural gas.  While the current proposals only apply to banning installation of natural gas to new construction, and new purchases of stoves, these proposals have the potential to expand to retroactively forcing millions of Americans to purchase new stoves.  This is a big government overreach that will have the most significant negative impact on middle and lower-income Americans.  Banning products that rely on natural gas puts consumers at higher risk for less reliable products and higher prices.

Many politicians believe they know better what Americans should do, think, buy, and consume, and that perspective is an excellent example of what’s wrong inside the Beltway.  They call for an end to fossil fuels and eliminating consumer choices in the marketplace, promoting ideas like banning gas stoves and implementing mandates for the purchase of electric-only vehicles, while exuding hypocrisy by flying on and driving gas-guzzling cars.  In perhaps the best example of why these policies outrage taxpayers across the country, Palo Alto, California, gave an exemption to celebrity chef Jose Andres to permit him to use gas stoves in his new restaurant.  These grandiose Green New Deal ideas will hit middle- and low-income Americans the hardest, as they can ill-afford the high prices of electric vehicles and appliances and don’t have the money or the celebrity clout to avoid their impact.

The Green New Deal agenda is not just about the environment, which will be little changed, if at all, after spending trillions of dollars on wasteful programs and projects.  It is about ending capitalism, taking away Americans’ freedom and choices, and giving the government control over entire industries.  A ban on gas stoves is nothing more than a political stunt that exemplifies the continuing disconnect between Washington and middle America.  For the sake of taxpayer and consumers, the House bills should be signed into law.