A congressional resolution sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) would repeal a Biden-era energy efficiency rule for water heaters that President Trump delayed implementing last week.
Cruz’s resolution takes aim at the Biden administration’s rules for tankless, gas-powered water heaters, which were expected to affect between 30 to 40 percent of heaters currently on the market. Manufacturers were originally required to meet the deadline by December 2029 but last Friday, the Trump Energy Department moved to delay the rules.
The Texas Republican introduced the resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows a simply majority of Congress to repeal a federal rule. Republicans introduced several CRA resolutions targeting Biden energy and environmental rules during his presidency, often passing the Senate with the votes of vulnerable and red-state Democrats like then-Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mt.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.V.).
While Biden inevitably vetoed such resolutions, the GOP trifecta and Trump’s plans to roll back Biden energy policies will likely provide a glide path for resolutions like Cruz’s. The CRA implementation would be nearly immediate, while undoing rules through the federal rulemaking process can take years. The water-heater rule delay would have involved creating a new product category for the affected models and arguing the category was exempt from the rule.
Cruz’s resolution has attracted the endorsements of a number of gas and fossil fuel industry groups, including the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, the US Oil & Gas Association and the Western Energy Alliance. Energy Secretary CEO Chris Wright sat on the board of directors of the latter group, according to a 2023 tax filing.
A source in Cruz’s office told The Hill they have gathered the required number of signatures to bring the resolution to the Senate floor, and a vote will likely come within the next two weeks
