Former President Donald Trump has taken the unprecedented step of exempting washers, dryers, and dishwashers from energy efficiency standards. President Joe Biden signed a rule on Wednesday that reversed that decision.
The Trump administration’s rule establishes separate product categories for dishwashers that run for 60 minutes or less per cycle and washers and dryers that run in less than 45 minutes per cycle, respectively.
These appliances were spared from efficiency rules because they fell into Trump’s “short-cycle” category.
That is no longer the case.
The judgment issued on Wednesday reversed the previous ruling and reinstated “the earlier product classifications and applicable requirements for these covered products,” according to the ruling.
The move, according to Andrew DeLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, was “essential” at the time.
In an interview with The Hill, DeLaski stated that “redoing this Trump gimmick is a necessary step, but the government still needs to finish undoing many other Trump rollbacks and start upgrading standards for dozens of items.”
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Supporters of President Donald Trump’s exemptions claimed that the regulation would be “a waste of time.”
A statement from Devin Watkins, an attorney with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said, “President Biden’s decision to restrict speedier 1-hour dishwashers will cause a significant amount of inconvenience for many American consumers.”
