Biden Uses Cold War Law to Nuke Your Gas Furnace

Remember when it was nothing more than right-wing fearmongering that Democrats were going to outlaw your gas appliances? It was a more innocent time, way back in [checks notes] January of this year.

I sure do miss those days. So does my gas furnace.

Democrats went very quickly from "Nobody is going to take away your gas appliances" to "Biden invokes wartime powers to fund electric heaters as he cracks down on gas appliances."

"Wartime powers?" "Electric heaters?" One of these things is not like the other unless there are millions of dollars to throw around to your cronies while putting their competitors out of business. And sure enough, Biden will dole out $169 million of your tax dollars to boost the production of electric heat pumps.

What gives Biden the authority to throw money around like a drunken Congress to further an environmental agenda that the House rejected back in June? A 1950 law called the Defense Production Act (DPA) was meant to protect and promote the production of war materials. Biden is using it to make heat pumps.

That's the Victoria's Secret lace camisole of flimsy excuses — and the White House knows it. The administration announced the move during the weekly Friday News Dump to slip it under the radar. The money comes from a presidential slush fund authorized by the Democrats' trillion-dollar Inflation Reduction Act (that did not reduce inflation), which the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Ben Lieberman called "absolutely shameful corporate welfare."

You might think that Biden might use the DPA to ramp up production of actual defense materials like much-needed artillery shells and missiles — if you hadn't been paying attention these last three years to his twisted priorities.

This isn't the first time Biden has abused the DPA to promote his radical green agenda, either. Last year, he invoked the DPA to suspend Donald Trump's tariffs on Chinese solar panels. The White House called it "bold executive action." Uyghur forced labor in western China, where the dirty work of producing solar panels goes on, called it "more unpaid overtime."

Biden's action to promote heat pumps was "necessary" because Biden's new regulations on gas furnaces will make them unaffordable where they aren't unavailable. When the new regs go into effect in 2028, Biden's rules mandate that all new gas furnaces operate at 95% efficiency, up from today's 80%. The non-condensing furnaces used in most homes almost certainly won't make the cut.

Buying a new house in 2028? Did your old furnace finally die? You'll either have to install a pricy condensing furnace (which also costs much more to install) or switch to a heat pump system.

If you thought it was expensive to install a new furnace, wait until you get the estimate for switching over to an entirely new heating system. But don't you worry, comrade — the heat pump industry already got its $169 million (for starters) from Biden, so it's going to be just fine.

You might also need to install an oil heater for backup since heat pumps don't work as well in extremely cold weather. "Extreme" in this case means anything much below freezing. Or you can install a special cold weather heat pump (!!!) which — surprise — costs even more money.

This is what Democrats call "improving efficiency" because either they're on drugs or I am.