During remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) spoke about California's electric vehicle mandates.
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00:00President. Broken whip. Thank you, Mr. President. This week I had an opportunity as part of Veterans
00:07Appreciation Week to speak with incredible Wyoming veterans from all across our state.
00:12Thank them for their service and also took the opportunity to listen closely to their concerns.
00:17On Tuesday, Senator Cynthia Lummis and I hosted a telephone town hall meeting with Veterans Affairs
00:23Secretary Doug Collins. Also, Colonel Tim Shepard, who is Executive Director of the Wyoming Veterans
00:30Commission, joined us on the call. The call was very productive and informative. Wyoming veterans
00:37shared their experience directly with Secretary Collins. They shared with us what works with the
00:42VA and how improvements can still be made. We heard many ideas for improvement. Suggestions ranged from
00:50changes to online scheduling to more flexibility for out-of-state appointments. Secretary Collins took
00:57this feedback seriously. He himself is a veteran. He knows that the VA is too bureaucratic. He's committed
01:04to fix it. So I'm proud to partner with him to deliver the care that our veterans deserve.
01:11On Wednesday here in Washington, I met with 16 Wyoming Vietnam veterans. They came to town to visit their
01:18memorial. These 16 veteran heroes come from across the state. Guernsey, Thermopolis, Powell, Casper,
01:25Cheyenne, Mountain View, Douglas, Newcastle, and Green River. Their stories of service and sacrifice are moving.
01:34This weekend in Wyoming, we'll be holding welcome home events across the state in Afton, Riverton,
01:39Sheridan, and Wheatland. It's a welcome home many veterans from Vietnam never really received. Sad to report,
01:48but true. This weekend, we honor all of our Wyoming veterans. Wyoming has one of the highest per capita
01:55rates of veterans in America. The pride in those individuals runs deep. It's an honor to represent them
02:03here in the Senate. And I'm going to continue to listen to the concerns of our veterans and work to improve
02:08the care that they need and continue to honor their sacrifices. Mr. President, on another matter,
02:18in 2024, in November, on Election Day, voters demanded more economic freedom and less government
02:28overreach. President Trump and Republicans in Congress heard them. The state of California did not.
02:37California wants to export its radical and impractical electric vehicle mandate to all 50 states.
02:46California's mandates are a progressive power grab. They dictate what cars and what trucks Americans can
02:54buy and can drive. These mandates aren't limited to California. They are calculated to control the
03:01policy of the entire nation. Congress must now act to protect the rights of the American people to drive
03:10the gas-powered vehicles that they want to drive. Last week, House Republicans, with 35 House Democrats
03:18joining all of the Republicans, voted to defend that freedom and to defeat this California mandate.
03:25And it's now up to the Senate to finish the job. California mandates spread far and wide.
03:33They affect 133 million Americans, nearly 40 percent of the population of this country, and here's why.
03:41Twelve states copy the California mandate to ban gas-powered cars by 2036.
03:47Ten states copy the California mandate to ban gas-powered trucks by 2036, and these include large population states, like New York.
03:59Even the junior senator from California admits that California's liberal mandates affect the entire country,
04:08and he says he's very proud of it. The American people think differently.
04:13The Washington Post reported last month that Americans are losing interest in EVs. That's the quote.
04:21Washington Post, Americans are losing interest in EVs. Interest in owning an EV has dropped 8 percent since 2023.
04:29The message is clear. Americans don't want these EVs, even when government tries to bribe them,
04:37bribe them into buying them and using them. People want to buy the car or the truck that works best for them.
04:43And where they live, and the life that they lead.
04:46The average price of an electric vehicle is $62,000, which is $16,000 more than comparable gas-powered vehicles.
04:55California mandates that the Democrats are pushing would raise prices even more.
05:01It would also limit options. This isn't progress.
05:03This is a policy that punishes working families, punishes farmers, punishes truckers, punishes the people that live in rural areas.
05:15Worse, EV batteries rely on China.
05:18Eighty percent of the EV battery components come from China.
05:22Republicans here in the Senate are fighting to end America's dependence on China.
05:26The California mandate, supported by the Democrats, makes that dependence even more dangerous.
05:33It risks our safety, it risks our security, and it risks our strategic independence.
05:40The Biden administration used its final days in office to grant California permission to export its EV mandate across the country.
05:48They did just one month before President Trump took office.
05:54They already lost the election.
05:55They already knew the American people rejected what they stood for.
06:00And yet they still tried to push this on to the American people and are trying to push it today.
06:06This is midnight meddling.
06:09Senate Republicans are ready to use the Congressional Review Act to stop it.
06:12We'll protect Americans' rights, the rights to purchase a gas-powered vehicle.
06:18That's what we're fighting for, and we have every right to do so.
06:22California's mandates have already taken root in a dozen states.
06:26They affect 40 percent of all the new light-duty vehicle registrants and a quarter of the new heavy-duty vehicle registrations nationwide.
06:35They clearly affect the kind of vehicles which will be manufactured and sold in America.
06:40These California mandates affect the cost and the availability of gas-powered cars and trucks all across the country,
06:47even in the states that do not adopt the mandates.
06:52To my Democrat colleagues who will tolerate California controlling what Americans can drive,
07:00do you think the American people really support what you're trying to shove down their throats?
07:06No, they don't.
07:07No wonder the Democrats lost the election.
07:10Are the Democrats willing to strip consumers and small businesses their right to choose the vehicles that work for their needs and for their budgets?
07:19Do Democrats want to continue to protect the failures and the fallacies of the Green New Deal?
07:25Or for once, will the Democrats join Republicans who are trying to protect working families?
07:30It's no surprise, then, that Republicans have become the family, the party, supporting and protecting the rights of working families.
07:39People have rejected the Democrats.
07:42The Senate also needs to reject the cheerleading by these climate extremists for more regulations, by unelected bureaucrats.
07:50But that's what the Democrats are here supporting.
07:52The Senate should use the Congressional Review Act to reject this Joe Biden midnight madness.
08:00By doing so, we will be protecting consumer choice, protecting affordability, and protecting congressional authority.
08:08It's time to put Americans, Mr. President, back in the driver's seat.
08:12Thank you, Mr. President, I yield the floor.