WASHINGTON – On July 28, 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced new regulations and standards which would negatively affect vehicle manufacturers and pass higher costs along to American consumers. The proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and light-duty trucks would impose burdensome and costly regulations requiring automakers to double the average fleet-wide fuel economy in under 10 years. These standards effectively force an electric vehicle (EV) mandate on the nation and severely restrict consumer choice.

The CAFE standards, in conjunction with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) tailpipe emissions proposal, would raise costs, restrict consumer choice, harm U.S. businesses, and shift supply chains to foreign adversaries. U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined his colleagues in a bicameral letter, led by U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) and U.S. Representative Tim Walberg (R-MI-07), to NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman, expressing their concerns with the proposed standards.  

The letter, which garnered the support of more than 100 members from the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, requests the withdrawal of the NHTSA's proposal and to reissue new CAFE standards complying with the law, rather than one which picks “winners and losers in the free market and remake our country’s economy.” 

“Nowhere in law did Congress authorize NHTSA to set fuel economy standards that effectively mandate EVs while at the same time force the internal combustion engine out of the market,” the lawmakers wrote. “NHTSA’s inappropriate, EV-focused approach will limit availability of and access to vehicle and fuel options that would better meet consumer preferences and needs and accomplish statutory objectives, while still reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the transportation sector. […] Lastly, NHTSA’s de facto mandate for EVs would harm our energy and national security, while simultaneously benefitting our number one foreign adversary: China.”

“NHTSA must stop its attempt to regulate gas-powered vehicles out of the market and force EVs onto buyers. Instead, NHTSA should put forward standards that preserve Americans’ freedom to choose a vehicle that best meets their needs,” the lawmakers wrote. “The proposal issued in July is mere virtue signaling for this Administration’s extreme climate agenda, but it would actually have only limited impact on emissions while strengthening foreign adversaries and harming American workers and consumers. We strongly urge NHTSA to drop its attempt at central planning and instead put forth a workable proposal that complies with the law and better serves the American people.”

Click here to read the letter.