Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LATTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank our chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee for yielding.

I rise in support of H.R. 1435, the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act, which is legislation I co-led.

California's Air Resources Board has made the decision to ban the sale of new internal combustion engines by the year 2035. This action was a major component in the State's radical climate agenda that is being forced on their citizens.

Normally, the actions of one State would not require a Federal response; however, in this case, California's actions extend far beyond their State's borders and will have consequences for all Americans. This is because 17 other States follow California's standards, representing 40 percent of the Nation's car market.

When Congress first set up this process, it never intended for California to be able to dictate to the rest of the country what types of vehicles they can purchase. Instead, Congress wanted to give California additional tools to combat smog levels.

To make matters worse, California has not clearly considered the impact these actions will have on the Nation's electric grid. As officials from the DOE and FERC confirmed to me this week, we are going to need more power, not less power, in this country to meet consumer demand. If California's Governor is already calling on his residents to conserve energy now to avoid blackouts and brownouts, how in the world will the grid be able to handle the load with millions of additional electric cars?

Additionally, the Biden administration is doing nothing to address the problem of accessing all the rare earth minerals that we need to manufacture an all-EV fleet. These materials are controlled by Communist China who will stand to reap the windfall of these policies.

H.R. 1435 is a commonsense bill because it institutes a check on any State that seeks to exploit the Clean Air Act. The American people are the better arbiters of what vehicles will serve their families' needs, not bureaucrats with political agendas.

Let me be clear: This legislation does not prevent California from being able to retain a waiver from the U.S. EPA to combat their smog issues, which was the original intent of the Clean Air Act.

I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation.

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