Sen. Tommy Tuberville on Wednesday welcomed the passage of a resolution of disapproval filed under the Congressional Review Act. The resolution, passed by the Senate on a 50-45 vote, challenged recent rules by the Biden administration and the U.S. Department of Energy that some believe could impose a significant financial burden on people trying to heat their homes affordably.

The controversial changes specifically ban all non-condensing reactor models and mean that manufacturers can only sell reactors that convert at least 95 percent of their fuel into heat, up from the previous limit of 80 percent.

The finalized rules officially came into effect on February 16th.

“The gas reactor rule is just one of many attacks on the domestic energy industry by the Biden Administration,” Taborville said. “President Biden should be looking for ways to lower costs, not raise them. Americans are already struggling to make ends meet in this economy, and they don't want to pay the price for this Administration's climate action.”

“We are pleased to be able to reverse this rule, and we hope that President Biden will sign it into law as soon as possible.”

According to Taborville, the regulations could force the majority of Americans to either install more expensive electric heat pumps or spend thousands of dollars retrofitting their homes to meet the requirements for new residential gas heaters. On average, it could cost about $2,200 to install a proper ventilation system and $4,500 to replace a heater.

The disapproval motion was first introduced in February by Tuberville and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

To strengthen and protect American energy production, Taborville has also introduced two other bills. The first is the American Energy Independence Act of 2022, which would “reverse Biden's shutdown of the American energy sector and return American energy to full production.” In 2022, Taborville also introduced the Thorium Energy Security Act, which would prevent the destruction of uranium-233 (U-233), an element essential to the production of clean energy.

Austin Shipley is a staff writer for Yellow Hammer News. You can follow him on X. @ShipleyAusten