Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said President Obama’s latest directive to increase fuel efficiency standards of trucks shows he must think he’s an automaker.
“The president once again thinks he is an automaker and a member of Congress with this latest mandate on trucks,” Roberts said Thursday. “In fact, it is another end run around the Congress with the potential to create safety concerns and no measurable effect on climate change as indicated by his own EPA administrator.”
{mosads}Earlier this week, Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to increase the fuel efficiency standard of large trucks by March 2016 in order to reduce carbon emissions and U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
Earlier in his administration, Obama also required cars to achieve a mileage rate of nearly 55 miles per gallon by 2025.
Republicans have argued that consumer demands should drive the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, not government regulations.
“Instead of letting the markets determine what kinds of trucks are produced, the president is doing it and in the end, it will be the consumer and the taxpayer who pay for it,” Roberts said. “I have already heard from many Kansans worried about this announcement increasing the price of trucks they need for their businesses.”