Trump speaks about economy and energy in Iowa
Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, joined “Fox & Friends First” to discuss President Trump’s upcoming trip to Iowa to discuss the economy and energy, the impact of rising health insurance premiums and a possible partial government shutdown.
President Donald Trump is a sharp departure from his predecessor in almost every area, perhaps especially when it comes to federal regulations on home appliances. The Biden administration loved to regulate appliances and impose new requirements on stoves, dishwashers, ovens, air conditioners, water heaters, light bulbs, refrigerators, washing machines and more. Trump wasted no time in addressing such interference in an Inauguration Day executive order reconsidering these regulations, and his administration is making progress on this issue. Here’s a look at what the government has achieved in its first year in home appliance regulation – and what still hasn’t been done.
1. Dishwashers and washing machines — These are perhaps the two most over-regulated home appliances. Washing machines have faced six consecutive stricter energy and water consumption limits in recent decades, while dishwashers have had four, and the results have been downright painful for consumers. There are indications that washing machines now require extra maintenance and do not clean as well or last as long. And dishwashers take two hours or more to wash dishes, twice as long as before the FBI started tinkering with them. Nevertheless, the Biden Department of Energy (DOE) has reimposed a series of restrictions on both devices, which will take effect in the coming years.
Fortunately, the current DOE has proposed repealing the most burdensome parts of these regulations, so washing machines and dishwashers can get better rather than worse.
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION UNVEILS NEW INITIATIVE TO BACK BACK FEDERAL REGULATIONS
2. Central air conditioners — All these appliance regulations are raising prices, but by far the biggest increase has been for home air conditioning systems. A homeowner replacing a 15-year-old system that probably cost about $5,000 when new will likely be looking at more than double that amount today. While several factors play a role in this unfortunate trend, the biggest reason is a rule from the Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that requires all refrigeration systems manufactured after January 1, 2025, to meet new climate change requirements. Industry sources reported price increases of up to $3,000 last summer — the first under Biden’s regulatory regime — and that’s on top of other EPA and DOE actions that had already raised prices in previous years.
The Trump EPA is trying to turn the tide with a proposed rule that would provide more compliance flexibility for these systems. If successful, this could help moderate further increases in air conditioning costs.
3. Boilers — It’s the appliance homeowners rarely think about until the moment it stops working, but Biden’s regulators gave water heaters a lot of attention. A December 2024 DOE rule would have effectively banned tankless gas water heaters — the kind that heat water as needed and don’t require a storage tank — by imposing prohibitively expensive new requirements. Fortunately, Congress and President Trump passed a law last April that repealed this regulation, preserving the tankless option for homeowners who prefer it. The deregulatory news on conventional tank storage water heaters isn’t so good, however, as a separate Biden-era regulation is still on the books that is estimated to increase costs by as much as $953 when it goes into effect in 2029.
4. Ovens – Biden’s 2023 oven regulations may be the worst yet to be overhauled by the Trump administration. It essentially bans gas-fired non-condensing furnaces, which are the best option for millions of older homes. Even the DOE estimates that the rule will result in cost increases of up to $853 when it goes into effect in 2028. Industry sources fear a bigger price increase, which will fall disproportionately on lower-income homeowners.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS ADVICE
5. Showers – Trump complains a lot about federal restrictions on water use for showers, but he alone cannot repeal them because they stem directly from a 1992 law that can only be reversed with the help of Congress. But modest improvements are possible, and the president has issued an executive order and a DOE rule that have added some wiggle room to how the agency interprets the law. Therefore, water consumption limits now apply to each nozzle rather than the entire unit, so showers with two or more nozzles are legal. A recently passed House bill would codify this change, but there is no Senate version yet.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Overall, the Trump administration has initiated much of the device deregulation in its first year, but just as important is what Washington has stopped doing: It is no longer piling on new regulatory restrictions, as Biden has done at a breakneck pace for four years and President Kamala Harris very likely would have continued to do. On the contrary, the FBI has made an about-face and is now focused on reviewing the measures already on the books and making changes to them.
It’s a solid start, but only a beginning. Some of the reforms mentioned above can and should go further, and there are still several appliance regulations, such as those affecting furnaces and water heaters, that have yet to be addressed. We can only hope that the fight for homeowners will remain a priority of the Trump administration over the next three years.
