Cruz demands info from Stacey Abrams’ new group on its push to ban gas stoves

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Sen. Ted Cruz is demanding information from left-wing advocacy group Rewiring America – which just hired Stacey Abrams – and the Rocky Mountain Institute on what role they played in the administration’s efforts to impose a de facto ban on gas stoves.

Cruz, the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, sent letters to the groups on Wednesday as part of his effort to learn what reports and studies the Biden administration has used to advance potential regulations on gas stoves. Cruz noted that both groups advanced reports that the administration, specifically Department of Energy and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), have relied on in pushing for regulations of gas stoves.

In his letter to Rewiring America CEO Ari Matusiak, Cruz said that "while the Biden administration’s efforts to extinguish gas stoves were only recently exposed, Rewiring America was apparently created for this purpose."

"Cofounder Saul Griffith explained in a 2020 blog post that Rewiring America was created "to address climate change… by electrifying everything."

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Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Cruz wrote that Matusiak made a public statement last August, declaring that "where we need to go from a climate perspective is to electrify what amounts to a billion machines across the 121 million households that people rely on to get to and from work, heat the air and water in their homes, cook their food and dry their clothes."

"Moreover, Rewiring America’s Facebook page reads like a sale-pitch for induction stoves and heat pumps," Cruz wrote.

Cruz also addressed the letter to Windward Fund board chair Lee Bodnar, saying that, "there is reason to believe that Rewiring America and the Windward Fund, its Arabella Advisors-funded sponsor in coordination with other left-wing advocacy groups, are trying to achieve this goal by promoting misleading and false studies that the Biden administration can rely on in advancing regulations on gas stoves.

Cruz said the recommendations DOE set forth in its Better Climate Challenge "mirror Rewiring America’s plans for residential, commercial, and industrial buildings to transition away from natural gas furnaces and water heaters and for commercial kitchens to replace their gas equipment with electric." He also said Matusiak spoke at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference as recently as March 2.

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is January reportedly was weighing whether to ban gas stoves. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Rewiring America announced on Tuesday that failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will be joining the nonprofit group as senior counsel.

In the letter to Rocky Mountain Institute, Cruz wrote that the "RMI-backed reports proved useful" to CPSC’s push to eliminate gas stoves.

"CPSC’s blind reliance on RMI-supported gas stove pieces to support potential rulemaking is troubling," Cruz said, adding that "there are additional indicators that RMI may be working closely with the administration to advance its radical agenda."

Cruz said RMI has tried to link gas stove use with childhood asthma, despite studies showing no clear link between the two.

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Stacey Abrams joined Rewire America this week as senior counsel. (Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Cruz said a senior RMI staff member "coauthored a December 2022 report titled, 'Population Attributable Fraction of Gas Stoves and Childhood Asthma in the United States.' That report, however, was widely criticized, with even RMI admitting that it does not demonstrate a causal relationship between gas stoves and asthma."

"Nevertheless, it remains posted on RMI’s website, with a caption exclaiming that the new "research from RMI" is "the first time that anybody has quantified how much gas stoves can be linked to childhood asthma in the United States," Cruz wrote.

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In effort to better understand RMI, Windward Fund and Rewiring America’s "role in the Biden administration’s apparent whole-of-government approach to eliminate gas-powered appliances and systems without congressional authorization," Cruz gave the groups until March 29 to provide requested documents to the committee.