Stop the War on Coal Act of 2012

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

This amendment would require the Secretary of Transportation to submit a report to Congress estimating: one, the number of jobs lost from the rule; two, the fatalities and injuries caused by the rule; three the cost to the economy caused by the rule. And it prohibits the Department of Transportation from consulting with the Environmental Protection Agency or the California Air Resources Board to complete the project.
What we really have here is a situation of executive overreach. We have seen a lot from the Obama administration along those lines. He told us when Congress doesn't act, he will.

Well, the EPA has never been involved in fuel standards for the industry. This has been the job that the Congress authorized the Department of Transportation to do through the CAFE standards, Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, not the EPA. California has State standards that they have established, but that doesn't make them the sole authority on the right standards.

What this rule will do is raise the average cost of a car by $3,000. It will cost 160,000 jobs by the Department of Transportation's own flawed analysis. It will cost industry and consumers $210 billion, the most expensive rule ever for the automobile industry.

This rule will price 7 million Americans out of the new car market. It will end the cars that are priced under $15,000. It will reduce vehicle safety mainly by reducing the weight and producing lighter vehicles, which are more susceptible to fatal collisions.

Finally, and most importantly to the State of Texas, this will reduce access to pickup trucks and other work vehicles, which are abundant in our State. This is overreach by the government.

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