The Detroit News: Walberg to reintroduce U.S. House bill halting 'EV mandates'

Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg plans to reintroduce legislation Friday that would ban the federal government from issuing rules that mandate electric vehicle sales or limit the availability of gas-powered ones, his office told The Detroit News.

The Tipton lawmaker introduced a similar version of the bill, titled the Choice in Automobile Retail Sales (or CARS) Act, in July 2023. The bill passed the U.S. House along mostly partisan lines in December of that year but never got a full vote in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

“Americans need access to reliable, affordable, and functional forms of transportation,” Walberg said in a Thursday statement. "The CARS Act will ensure that consumers have the freedom to decide what car works best for them and their families."

The ninth-term congressman initially brought forward the legislation to counter regulatory efforts from former Democratic President Joe Biden aimed at pushing automakers to aggressively reduce tailpipe emissions. Walberg and other Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have said those efforts amounted to an EV mandate that will harm businesses and push consumers to adopt a product they don't want.

"To provide some stability for the industry, we must prevent future unrealistic government mandates like the ones we saw under the Biden administration," Walberg said. "The future of the automotive industry should be driven by engineers in Detroit, not by bureaucrats in Washington. Our bill will put American consumers back in the driver’s seat.”

The new bill, which Walberg's office said is nearly identical to the past version, will amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit any federal regulations that "mandate the use of any specific technology" or "result in limited availability of new motor vehicles based on the type of new motor vehicle engine in such new motor vehicles."

Such regulations are unlikely under the current Trump administration but could come into play if Democrats eventually win back control of the White House.

The last version of the bill went after Biden-era emissions rules from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that push automakers to significantly boost EV sales over the next decade. The agency's own estimates suggested that EVs — including fully battery-electric models and plug-in hybrids — would need to make up at least 69% of new vehicles sold by 2032 for companies to comply.

EVs accounted for about 10% of new vehicle sales in January 2025, according to data from Wards Auto.

The Biden-era EPA rule was finalized in March 2024. Because of that, Walberg's office said, the new CARS Act omits the provision that sought to block it from taking effect.

Separately, Trump's EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said earlier this week that his agency would reconsider the Biden-era rule. "The American auto industry has been hamstrung by the crushing regulatory regime of the last administration," he said in a Wednesday statement.

Walberg further bashed Biden's regulatory efforts because they "forced additional reliance on China," which is the world leader in producing EVs and the batteries that power them.

Critics of Walberg and other Republicans' anti-EV policies have said that canceling government support for the technology will benefit China in the long term by allowing the United States' chief economic rival to grow its advantage in that area.

Republican U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher of Idaho will co-sponsor the bill with Walberg.