WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo (both R-Idaho) joined 15 Senate Western Caucus members in sending a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urging Senate leadership to defund the Biden Administration’s misguided electric vehicle (EV) rule, which would mandate more than two-thirds of all vehicles sold in the U.S. be fully electric by 2032. Defunding the EV mandate will protect the freedoms of the people in the West so they can continue to choose what car or truck they want to drive.

“While we are supportive of the free market producing electric vehicles to satisfy a market need, this misguided EPA mandate would have an immediate, detrimental impact on the choices and affordability of cars, trucks, and SUVs available to our constituents,” the Senators wrote. “It also increases America’s dependence on China.”

Risch and Crapo were joined in sending the letter by Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), John Boozman (R-Ark.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah).

Click here to read the full letter.

Earlier this year, Risch and Crapo introduced the Choice in Automobile Retail Sales (CARS) Act to counter the Biden Administration’s radical environmental agenda and executive overreach by preventing the implementation of a proposed rule and other regulations that seek to limit consumer vehicle choice. The CARS Act passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, December 6, 2023.