Sen. Scott Joins Letter Urging Biden Administration to End Costly, Hasty Transition to Electric Vehicles

WASHINGTON — Yesterday, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) joined a bipartisan, bicameral letter to President Joe Biden and Director of the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young urging the Biden administration to withdraw the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule that would require 67% of new light-duty vehicles, such as sedans, sport utility vehicles, and minivans, and 46% of medium-duty vehicles, including many shuttle buses, box trucks, and ambulances, to be electric by 2032. This rule amounts to a de facto mandate for electric vehicles (EVs) and phase-out of the internal combustion engine vehicle, which limits choice for South Carolinians, for whom an EV may not be financially feasible or practical.

In total, more than 130 Senate and House members signed the letter.

In their letter, the lawmakers wrote, “This proposed rule, which would require 67% of new light-duty vehicles and 46% of medium-duty vehicles to be electric by 2032, amounts to a de facto mandate for EVs and phase out of the internal combustion engine vehicle. The U.S. House of Representatives, in a bipartisan manner, voted to overturn this burdensome rule in December (H.R. 4468), and similar efforts are currently being pursued in the Senate.”

“Additionally, this rule is contradictory to all conventional predictions about where the automobile industry is headed in the coming years, including this Administration’s own Department of Energy. As reported in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook in 2021, 4 of 5 new vehicles will still run on liquid fuels in 2050, making this rule not just absurd to the average citizen, but to your own agencies as well. In fact, recent reporting from sources inside your Administration indicates that EPA now intends to ease the rule’s requirements through 2030 to give automakers more time to comply. This again shows that even your own agencies know this mandate is absurd and unrealistic, and threatens to harm both industry and consumers,” the lawmakers added.

The lawmakers also noted, “The reality is that most Americans still prefer the internal combustion engine vehicle, and EPA’s proposed rule unnecessarily restricts consumer choice and forces expensive EVs onto Americans at a time when they can least afford it. Major U.S. automakers have recently lowered their targets and pulled back planned investments in EVs due to low consumer demand and struggling EV units. Further, automobile dealers across the country have said EVs continue to sit unpurchased on dealership lots, despite automakers accepting massive losses and unsustainable government incentives.”

The full letter can be found here.