Washington (December 3, 2025) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, released the following statement after the Trump administration announced a roll-back of the corporate average fuel economy standards that save drivers money at the gas pump and cut dangerous air pollution. Senator Markey was the House co-author of the 2007 legislative standards that led to the historic fuel economy standard that the Trump administration is attempting to undercut through its proposal of a standard that does not strive for the maximum feasible level established in law.
“The Trump administration is hellbent on gutting commonsense regulations that are good for your wallets, health, and the place you live,” said Sen. Markey. “Rather than increasing your miles per gallon, Donald Trump wants to waste your time and money at the gas pump. Cutting fuel economy standards will put money from our pockets into Big Oil’s bankrolls, turbocharge pollution that saddles Americans with health care debt and extreme weather damages, cut American jobs and competitiveness, and increase our dependence on foreign oil. Americans should be able to buy fuel-efficient cars that fit their budgets—this anti-driver, anti-affordability, and anti-environment Administration should be embarrassed for siding with polluters over people.”
Instead of achieving a 50.4 mile-per-gallon standard by model year 2031, this proposed roll-back would cut the average fuel economy to 34.5 miles per gallon by 2031—even less than the 39.1 miles per gallon standard for light-duty vehicles last year and less than the 2020 statutory baseline. The Biden-era standards were expected to save drivers $35 billion over the lifetime of covered vehicles and saved 64 billion gallons of gas. The harms from this proposal are expected to exceed the previously estimated benefits, as it both attempts to roll back future standards and to undo standards that manufacturers have already met.
Senator Markey has been a fuel economy champion since standards were enabled by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which included fuel economy language co-authored by then-Rep. Markey. That law included Markey’s language that said the standard must be at least 35 mpg by 2020, and that the “maximum feasible standard” must be set every year. During the first Trump Administration, Senator Markey reintroduced the Greener Air Standards Mean Our National Security, Environment, and Youth (GAS MONEY) Saved Act, which would block efforts to roll back fuel economy and vehicle emission standards.
Senator Markey was also a key force in strengthening the vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards, which are set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect our health, our climate, and cut gasoline bills. On September 22, 2025, Senator Markey (D-Mass.) led ten of his Senate colleagues in writing to EPA Administrator Zeldin, urging the agency to reverse course on the elimination of federal standards for greenhouse gas emissions from passenger cars and medium and heavy-duty trucks. Senator Markey has been a champion for clean vehicles since stronger standards were enabled by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which included fuel economy language co-authored by then Representative Markey. On July 13, 2023, Senators Markey, Tom Carper (D-Del.), and Padilla led nearly 100 colleagues in writing a letter to then-Administrator Michael Regan, urging the EPA to finalize the strongest feasible multi-pollutant vehicle emission standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles by the end of 2023.
The Trump administration is also proposing to eliminate the vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards, which are projected to prevent 2,500 premature deaths, as well as save drivers $6,000 over the next five years by cutting fuel costs.
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