Ted Cruz Is Holding Up Bipartisan Action To Make E-Bike Batteries Safe

By Greg B. Smith, THE CITY

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A federal bill the FDNY contends would help douse the dangerous trend of e-bike battery fires that has killed 31 New Yorkers in four years has been stalled in the Senate since July. The roadblock: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and his rage against what he sees as the Biden Administration’s campaign to ban gas stoves.

The bill would require the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to draft mandatory safety standards for all lithium-ion batteries and related chargers that power micro mobility devices such as e-bikes and e-scooters.

The House version, sponsored by Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-The Bronx), passed in May with solid bipartisan support. The Senate version also has bipartisan backers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both New York Democrats, as well as Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) and Sen. Mike Braun (R-Indiana). New York City fire officials expected swift passage in the upper chamber.

But in July, Cruz, the ranking minority member of the Commerce Committee where the bill was pending, sent the Senate version into limbo, adding an amendment that the bill’s sponsors said would gut the consumer agency’s ability to regulate the safety of the potentially volatile batteries.

Cruz’s focus was not on dangerous batteries but instead targeted the CPSC — the same agency that last year proposed regulations that would reduce gas consumption in stoves to help trim carbon emissions. Some Republicans, including Cruz, labeled the proposal an “anti gas stove” initiative initiated by an out-of-control agency that was exceeding its