[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 99 (Wednesday, June 12, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4037-S4038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Tailpipe Emissions and EV Mandate

  Mr. RICKETTS. Madam President, I rise today to join my colleagues in 
condemning the Biden administration's continuous overreach. 
Specifically, today we are talking about the EPA's delusional tailpipe 
emissions regulations. They are effectively an EV mandate.
  This delusional rule would require up to two-thirds of all new cars 
being sold in 2032 to be electric vehicles. I don't have anything 
against electric vehicles--they are cool to drive--but the Federal 
Government shouldn't be picking winners and losers in the marketplace. 
The free market and consumers should drive American innovation, not 
mandates from the Biden administration. That is why I have introduced 
Congressional Review Act legislation, along with Senator Sullivan, to 
overturn Biden's EV mandate.
  There are a lot of reasons an EV mandate just isn't feasible. My 
first concern is the cost to consumers.
  At an event I held last year bringing experts from across the country 
to Nebraska to talk about what these mandates would mean, one of our 
experts from Harvard and the Breakthrough Institute told us that auto 
ownership is the most critical tool for people getting out of poverty. 
Certainly in a State like Nebraska, that is true. It is the ticket to 
being able to get to a job. Yet buying and maintaining an electric 
vehicle is unaffordable to our low-income families.
  The average low-income family spends $12,000 on a vehicle. An EV 
costs $53,000. A $7,500 tax credit is not going to get you anywhere. It 
is an unacceptable burden and barrier to our low-income families to be 
able to get that car so they can get to work.
  The second problem is that Biden administration officials have 
admitted they have no idea how they are going to be able to accomplish 
their goal. One person I talked to said they are going to run into two 
big problems: math and physics. They have no idea how they are going to 
be able to generate and transmit the power needed to be able to charge 
all these cars.
  In fact, on the one hand, while they are trying to get us to use more 
electric vehicles and have those be charged, on the other hand, the 
Biden administration is passing rules that are attacking American 
energy. They are passing regulations for our power-generating plants 
that, for example, would require 78 percent of coal-generation plants 
to shut down between 2028 and 2040.
  They are blocking the mining of critical minerals as well that we 
need to build the batteries--so Ambler Road, for example, in Alaska, 
where there is one of our major copper mine deposits, or think about 
all the lithium mine resources we have in this country. They are 
blocking our ability to get the resources and therefore are going to 
make us dependent on China, which processes between 60 to 80 percent of 
all these critical and rare earth elements that we need to be able to 
build these batteries.
  There are also limitations on the technology that goes along with 
electric vehicles. It just doesn't make it feasible in States like 
Nebraska. For example, EVs are not reliable in cold weather. According 
to the AAA, when

[[Page S4038]]

the temperature drops below 20 degrees, EVs' driving range can be 
reduced by as much as 41 percent.
  Nebraskans tell me they feel like Washington, DC, bureaucrats have no 
idea how their policies will affect them in the middle part of the 
country. Of our 147 communities in Nebraska, designated cities, 99 do 
not have chargers. In fact, if you are in places like Valentine or 
Bloomfield or Alliance, you are 45 minutes away from the nearest 
charging station. If we are going to set national standards, those 
standards need to work in every State.
  I promised my constituents I would fight these delusional mandates 
with every tool I have. My Congressional Review Act resolution of 
disapproval would overturn Biden's EV mandate. It is a bipartisan 
effort that has the support of 48 of my colleagues. In the coming 
months, every Member of this body will have the opportunity to join in 
this commonsense effort.
  Anyone who votes against these will have to explain to their 
constituents why they don't want our low-income families to be able to 
get a job by buying a car or why they don't want folks in rural areas 
to be able to get to work.
  I am confident that our CRA will earn bipartisan majorities in the 
House and Senate so we can send it to President Biden's desk. I want to 
thank all of my colleagues who have joined in this effort.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.