House Republicans have once again voted to poison you and cost you trillions
House Republicans have once again attempted to pass a law that will increase emissions and cost Americans trillions of dollars in additional fuel and health costs.
The bill in question is called H.R.4468, the “CARS” act. It was introduced by Rep Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Andrew Clyde (R-GA). It passed the House Wednesday by a vote of 221-197, with 216 republicans and 5 Democrats voting to poison you and cost you trillions of dollars, and 197 Democrats and zero republicans voting to protect you from pollution and save you money.
The law, which has not yet been voted on in the Senate and will be vetoed by President Biden if it does reach his desk, intends to block the implementation of the EPA’s new emissions rules which will avoid nearly 10 billion tons of emissions and save Americans trillions of dollars in health and fuel costs if implemented.
The rules work out to $12,000 in savings for the average consumer over the average life of a vehicle, not to mention the hundreds of billions of dollars in health and climate benefits.
The emissions rules were released in April, and the EPA has been taking public comments and considering more or less stringent alternatives since, which will culminate in a final implementation of the rule early next year.
Various lobbying groups have had their say in the interim, with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation wrongly saying that the rules are “neither reasonable nor achievable.” The AAI represents nearly every major automaker – many of them, like Ford and GM, have claimed to be all-in on EVs and yet still lend their support to a group that lobbies for worse emission standards.
The few companies that aren’t part of AAI’s membership tend to be the all-electric automakers who, almost a decade early, are already well within compliance with the regulation’s 2032 target, showing that the target is in fact achievable in contradiction to AAI’s incorrect claim. These automakers have much more reasonably called for stronger action, not lighter action.
Meanwhile, environmental and health groups, who represent doctors and people with lungs (that’s you), rather than polluters, have applauded the EPA’s proposed standards.
But despite us writing about this in an EV publication, the EPA standards do not in fact mandate EVs, in contradiction to claims made by H.R. 4468’s main sponsor. Part of the bill reads:
“(B) Effective beginning on the date of enactment of this subparagraph, any regulation prescribed under paragraph (1) (and any revision thereof), including any such regulation or revision prescribed before the date of enactment of this subparagraph, shall not—
“(i) mandate the use of any specific technology; or
“(ii) result in limited availability of new motor vehicles based on the type of new motor vehicle engine in such new motor vehicles.”.
And Walberg, in defending his assault on Americans’ lungs and pocketbooks, stated “while EVs may play a large role in the future of the auto industry, Washington should not discount other technologies like hydrogen, hybrids, and the internal combustion engine.”
But Walberg shows that he did not comprehend the regulations in question, because the proposed EPA regulation in fact does not do that. All it does is mandate a certain level of emissions from vehicles, and automakers are free to use any technologies they want to reach those emissions levels.
If they can reach suitably low levels of pollution with internal combustion engines, they are free to use them. And if hybridization or hydrogen can contribute more than internal combustion engines can, and if they can get consumers to actually want to buy cars with those technologies, then they are free to use those technologies as well.
The EPA standards are in fact “technology-agnostic,” so this shows a lack of understanding on behalf of the bill’s author and the hundreds of Republicans (and 5 Democrats) who voted for it, telling people who do understand the issue (the EPA) that they need to stop doing a thing they aren’t even doing. And the instruction the bill provides to the EPA stands in direct contradiction of the other mandate the House has already given it: to protect clean air, through the Clean Air Act.
This action is just the latest in a long recent history of the US republican party attacking clean air and working to increase costs and decrease the consumer’s ability to choose a cleaner vehicle, or to live in a world where pollution is nor forced upon them.
Just last week, Ohio Republicans echoed US House Republicans in attempting to overturn California’s pollution standards, as yet another assault on the very same “states’ rights” which they often claim to believe in.
And earlier in this same House term, House and Senate Republicans voted on a bill to overturn the EPA’s first truck soot rule in two decades which they knew would never pass into law, and yet they still wanted to send a message – to let you know that if they did gain power, they are chomping at the bit for any chance to poison you.
This new bill will now be referred to the Senate, where it may or may not receive a vote, and will be vetoed by President Biden if it reaches his desk. Given the lack of a veto-proof majority, it is dead in the water – merely acting as a statement by House Republicans that they want to increase pollution and costs for Americans at a time where we desperately need a reduction in both. When people show you who they are, believe them.
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Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
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