Prohibiting the Use of Funds to Implement, Administer, or Enforce Certain Rules of the Environmental Protection Agency

Floor Speech

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Mr. PADILLA. Madam President, I am inspired by Senator Markey's remarks, and I am pleased to join him in this debate in opposition to the measure.

We are speaking today because the American people deserve to know what is at stake during today's vote. And, no, it is not the latest fabricated Republican electric vehicle horror story. No one is coming to slap a Biden bumper sticker on your car and take your gas-powered car off the road.

Americans are smarter than that. Americans want reliable cars that can get them to work, to school, wherever they need to go, powered by fuel that doesn't break the bank. Americans also want a future where their kids, our kids, and our grandkids can breathe clean air. And we all want a planet that is not burning to the ground.

Unfortunately, too many of our Republican colleagues will tell you that we can't have both, that we have to choose. It can be either the economy or the environment.

So for everyone who is watching, everybody who is listening, please know that that is a false choice.

Yes, the EPA rule will improve public health and protect our planet. It will also help create good jobs and strengthen the auto industry.

It sets ambitious goals for reducing emissions while giving automakers the flexibility that they need and they have asked for to actually meet those goals through whatever combination of new electric, hydrogen fuel cell, or hybrid vehicles that they are best prepared to make and offer.

So, to my Republican colleagues, I also have a question. How many times have we heard you say: Well, let's make it in America.

Well, here is your chance. Would you welcome more good-paying jobs in Idaho or West Virginia? We do in California, because we would rather have it here and not overseas.

I also hear some people argue: Well, our domestic supply chain and our targeted infrastructure isn't quite ready for this electric vehicle transition.

Well, this rule actually reduces the risks for domestic manufacturers and gives them more certainty to make necessary long-term investments in domestic manufacturing and charging infrastructure that we all want to see.

So, colleagues, we have a tremendous economic opportunity before us.

I ask you all to just take a look at our home State of California, where we have proven that it is not an either-or between the economy and the environment. California has led the Nation not just with bold targets for clean and renewable sources of electricity but for transitioning to a zero-emission transportation sector. As a result, clean car sales are far outpacing even our expectations.

In 2023, zero-emission vehicles made up a quarter of all light-duty sales in our State--the most popular State in the nation. If California was its own country, it would be fourth in the world in electric vehicle sales. So, not only can it happen, it is happening, and it is because of that type of economic potential that automakers across the country are fully committed to this electric vehicle transition. They know that this EPA final rule is ambitious, but it is also achievable.

And labor unions, including but not limited to the UAW, are all in because they, too, reject the fearmongering that says tackling the climate crisis is going to come at the cost of so many union jobs. Environmental and community advocates are all in on this because this is what the climate crisis demands of us.

But we are still hearing from Republicans that Americans are losing their ability to buy the vehicle of their choice.

That is wrong. For all the fearmongering, for all the bad-faith arguments, let's be clear: Under the EPA's rule, not a single American will be forced to buy a car that they don't want, and not a single manufacturer will be given a quota for a specific type of vehicle to make.

With all that said, I will acknowledge that Republicans are correct about one thing: These are big goals for our country. Colleagues, a century ago, it was American innovation and manufacturing that led to the automobile revolution, and you would be wrong to think that the American people can't do it again. So I urge my colleagues to stand with us in setting ambitious goals for our future to give the American people a choice to grow our economy, and we can do it by voting no.

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