[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 26, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S1355]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Vehicle Emissions

  Mr. President, now on another matter, today, the senior Senator from 
Nebraska will advance a resolution to push back on the Biden 
administration's war against American energy and American industry.
  Senator Fischer's resolution responds to the Biden administration's 
new plan to hike already stringent vehicle emission standards even 
higher. This latest rule on nitrogen oxide emissions takes direct aim 
at the sort of trucks and heavy equipment that literally drive our 
entire economy.
  Back in 2021, climate activists got the President to invoke 
``environmental justice'' in an Executive order rolling out its so-
called Clean Trucks Plan. The same bureaucrats who can't control 
inflation or secure the border want to even more closely micromanage 
the heavy vehicles allowed on our roads. Never mind that the nitrogen 
oxide emissions of new trucks on the market are already--listen to 
this--already 98 to 99 percent lower than they were as recently as the 
late 1990s.
  By the EPA's own estimates, the new technology required to meet the 
latest arbitrary benchmarks could jack up truck prices by as much as 
$8,304 each--each.
  Listen to what the truckers themselves have to say:

       If small business owners can't afford the new, compliant 
     trucks, they're going to stay with older, less-efficient 
     trucks, or leave the industry entirely.

  Leave the industry entirely? Higher priced trucks, fewer drivers, 
higher costs for consumer goods--that is an outcome working families 
and supply chains simply can't stomach.
  So I want to express my gratitude to Senator Fischer for bringing 
this resolution forward. I would urge each of our colleagues to support 
it.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.