This bill became law on 2025-05-09 as Public Law No. 119-6.
The summary below describes the bill at the version we last reviewed; the enacted text may differ.
YourVoice.Now Summary
EnvironmentYour MoneyCorporate BenefitsGas tankless water heaters can still use more gas — Congress voted down a new rule.
Environment
The rule came from the Energy Department in December 2024. It required new models to use less gas for the same hot water. Congress voted it down. The rule now has no legal force.
Congress used the Congressional Review Act. Under that law, an agency may not put out a rule much like one Congress votes down. The Energy Department would need a new law first.
Your Money
Without the rule, water heaters that use more gas can still be sold. A buyer who picks one of those units would pay more for gas over the years it runs.
Corporate Benefits
Makers of gas tankless water heaters would have had to redesign models that missed the new minimum. Now they can keep making what they sell today.
More about this bill
If you buy a gas tankless water heater, more models stay on the market. These units heat water on demand instead of storing it in a tank. Congress canceled a December 2024 Energy Department rule that would have set a higher efficiency minimum for them. The resolution became law on May 9, 2025, so the rule has no force or effect. Congress used the Congressional Review Act, which lets it vote down a new federal rule within a set time. Makers of these water heaters no longer have to meet the standard. The Energy Department also may not issue a rule much like it again unless a new law allows it. Buyers keep a wider set of models. Some of those models use more gas.
Congressional Summary
This joint resolution nullifies the rule titled Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Consumer Gas-fired Instantaneous Water Heaters and submitted by the Department of Energy (DOE) on December 26, 2024. Under the rule, DOE adopted amended energy conservation standards for gas-fired instantaneous water heaters to achieve the maximum improvement in energy efficiency that DOE determined was technologically feasible and economically justified.
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Public Law
- Action Date
- 2025-05-09
- Date Added
- 2026-06-05
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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