Rep. Diana Harshbarger

R

Tennessee – District 1
representative

Leadership

Vice Chair Health

119th Congress

News & Announcements

Feb 6, 2026
Press Release

Chairmen Guthrie and Bilirakis Announce CMT Subcommittee Markup of Legislation to Strengthen Motor Vehicle Safety and Advance U.S. Automotive Leadership

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Gus Bilirakis (FL-12), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, announced a subcommittee markup of twelve bills to strengthen automotive safety, affordability, and leadership.

WHAT: Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade markup of twelve bills.

DATE: Tuesday, February 10, 2026

TIME: 10:15 AM ET

LOCATION: 2123 Rayburn House Office Building

Items to be considered:

  • H.R. 5221, PART Act (Reps. Baird and McCollum)
  • H.R. 2110, Safe Vehicle Access for Survivors Act (Reps. Dingell and Crenshaw)
  • H.R. 6688, ADAS Functionality and Integrity Act (Reps. Harshbarger, Obernolte, Vazquez, and Torres-CA)
  • H.R. 3360, Driver Technology and Pedestrian Safety Act (Rep. Mullin)
  • H.R. 3385, To direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue certain regulations to update the definition of motorcycle, and for other purposes. (Rep. Van Orden)
  • H.R. 1566, Right to Equitable and Professional Auto Industry Repair (REPAIR) Act (Reps. Dunn and Perez)
  • H.R. 7389, Motor Vehicle Modernization Act of 2026 (Chairman Guthrie)
  • H.R. 7390, Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research In Vehicle Evolution (SELF DRIVE) Act of 2026 (Rep. Latta)
  • H.R. 7372, Safety Is Not for Sale Act (Ranking Member Pallone)
  • H.R. 7377, Know Before You Drive Act (Rep. Schrier)
  • H.R. 6947, Securing Accessible Functional Emergency (SAFE) Exit Act of 2026 (Rep. Kelly-IL)
  • H.R. 7353, Magnus White and Safe Streets for Everyone Act of 2026 (Rep. Clarke)

This notice is at the direction of the Chairman. The hearing will be open to the public and press and will be livestreamed online at energycommerce.house.gov. If you have any questions concerning this hearing, please contact Jackson Rudden at Jackson.Rudden@mail.house.gov. If you have any press-related questions, please contact Daniel Kelly at Daniel.Kelly@mail.house.gov.

Dec 17, 2025
Oversight & Investigations

O&I Subcommittee Holds Hearing on AI and Biotechnology

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman John Joyce, M.D. (PA-13), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, led a hearing titled Examining Biosecurity at the Intersection of AI and Biology.

“As a physician, I must acknowledge the extraordinary promise that AI-enabled biotechnology holds for patient care. AI is accelerating drug discovery, improving protein modeling, and enabling the development of therapies with unprecedented precision,” said Chairman Joyce. “The Trump Administration has taken steps to keep up with such advancements, but the federal government must continue to carefully assess whether our current safeguards and reporting systems are adequate in an era of rapidly advancing AI technology.”

Watch the full hearing here

Below are key excerpts from today’s hearing:

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Congressman Dan Crenshaw (TX-02): “We've talked a lot about how AI can be used for all sorts of scary things. What about the good parts? What about assisting industry leaders and researchers in identifying biosecurity risks? In other words, you know, how can we use AI for good?” Mr. McKnight: “Thank you for the question. This builds on the conversation we were having about select agent lists and then the new incredible diversity of threats. The same way the biodesign tools that we're talking about can create new proteins and give lessons on how to create new medicines, those same tools can be turned around. [...] They can be turned around to automate the process of interpreting a sample that you're looking at, and then the development roadmap that is funded through these programs is to use AI to go from sequence detection to what the function is.”

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Congressman Russ Fulcher (ID-01): “In an attempt to try to close the door on this, President Trump had the executive order back in May. And looking at the gene synthesis, in the section of the President's EO of the gene synthesis section, can you say what specific parts of that order are actually going to stop these threats, or have the best chance of stopping these threats? Can they stop [those] threats if implemented? And, just a follow up, what else should we in Congress be doing about this?” Dr. Pannu: “Thank you for the question. Overall, I'm glad that you mentioned the executive order from May; I think that's an important initiative. There are a couple of things in that I would want to highlight: the gene synthesis provisions do call on Congress to proceed with a legislative effort to make gene synthesis screening mandatory across the U.S., that's something that Congress could advance. The other provisions on clearly defining what is dangerous gain of function research, those policies have yet to be released from the Office of Science and Technology Policy, so Congress could ask for an update as to those, and where they currently stand.”

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Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger (TN-01): “Are there early warning indicators—whether they're digital, biological or supply chain—that could help identify AI-enabled biological misuse? Because you talked about that digital to physical barrier.” Mr. McKnight: “Yes, one of the key capabilities that we work on is when you take a sample with Biothreat Radar from an airport, or from a community, or from a threat location, you bring it, you do DNA sequencing with it. […] We have a set of tools that we are constantly developing with cutting edge machine learning AI to analyze that DNA to tell you what’s in it, what different types of pathogens, are there new things that you haven’t seen? And one of the very specific tools that we work on that was developed in conjunction with IARPA […] is a tool that actually looks and algorithmically scores to identify if something has been genetically engineered or not.”

Sep 18, 2025
Health

Health Subcommittee Holds Health Legislative Hearing on Enhancing Seniors’ Access to Breakthrough Medical Technology

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Morgan Griffith (VA-09), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, led a legislative hearing on examining policies to enhance seniors’ access to breakthrough medical technologies. “These policies are essential to reducing regulatory barriers to help patients get timely access to care, while also bringing more transparency into the coverage process at CMS,” said Chairman Griffith. “It is our job as Congress to ensure that patients are able to access treatments, screenings, or devices in a timely manner—especially if there are no other alternatives on the market.” Watch the full hearing here . Below are key excerpts from today’s hearing: Congresswoman Diana Harshbarger (TN-01) on the bill To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to ensure transparency in the national coverage determination process under the Medicare program and to make certain adjustments to Medicare local coverage determinations: “My question is, how should Medicare prioritize coverage pathways for therapies that address these high burden diseases?” Dr. Brinton: “As I said, this is obviously a huge number of Medicare beneficiaries [that] suffer from cardiovascular disorders. Ultimately, as we mentioned before, transitional coverage—the [Transitional Coverage for Emerging Technologies] as we exist today—provides an opportunity, but it’s limited basically to five technologies. This is a pace that requires [Coverage with Evidence Development] to get to a national coverage decision, but there’s an opportunity for a lot more than that to broaden the capability. There are technologies that we need to have available to seniors. The opportunity to do that basically provides accelerating this process.”   Congressman John Joyce, M.D. (PA-13) on the Ensuring Patient Access to Critical Breakthrough Products Act of 2025: “Innovation has long been the cornerstone of American medicine. It’s how I practiced medicine for 25 years. America has consistently led the world in development of new and innovative therapies and cutting-edge medical devices. However, due to the current payment structure of Medicare, our nation’s seniors frequently can be excluded from accessing the newest medical device technology. In fact, this delay in coverage following an FDA approval by CMS has the unfortunate name of the valley of death.” Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks (IA-01) on the Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act: “Late-stage cancer diagnoses are the deadliest, require treatments that take the hardest toll on patients, and cost the most to treat. That’s why I was proud to coauthor the Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act with my colleagues Representatives Hudson, Arrington, Sewell, Ruiz, and Kelly. This critical legislation gives CMS the authority to cover multi-cancer early detection tests once they’re approved by the FDA, ensuring our nation’s seniors have access to groundbreaking innovation that will transform how we diagnose and prevent cancer progression.” ###

Letters

Apr 2, 2026
Press Release

Chairman Guthrie Leads E&C Republicans in Letter to Secretary Duffy Praising Proposed Rule on CAFE Standards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, led a letter along with 28 Republican members of the Committee to Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in support of the Trump Administration’s proposed rule to address the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.

The proposal from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is reversing the overreach created by standards issued by the Biden-Harris Administration and ensuring that families—not politicians—pick the car that best serves their needs.

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s NHTSA established unlawful fuel economy standards that served as a de facto electric vehicle mandate,” said Chairman Guthrie. “The rule instituted aggressive fuel economy targets that could only be achieved through broad vehicle electrification, made improper assumptions on vehicle electrification, expressly considered ‘dedicated automobiles,’ and allowed consideration of the fuel economy credit program in establishing fuel economy standards.”

Key excerpt from the letter:

“In June 2025, NHTSA appropriately concluded that the previous Administration’s approach contradicted EPCA and exceeded the agency’s authority. NHTSA’s new proposal appropriately brings the CAFE program back in statutory compliance and aligns with congressional intent in establishing the program through setting achievable fuel economy targets, not picking winners and losers in the marketplace, and addressing credit trading.

“Even during a time when Americans were already struggling to afford groceries due to Biden-inflation, the Biden-Harris Administration plowed ahead with CAFE standards that were projected to increase the average cost of new motor vehicles. By contrast, your Department’s proposed standards are estimated to save American families approximately $109 billion over the next five years. Regulatory costs often price consumers out of newer vehicles, meaning fewer Americans would have access to new motor vehicle safety technologies. The current proposal is estimated to save more than 1,500 lives and prevent nearly 250,000 serious injuries by improving access to newer vehicles.”

BACKGROUND:

  • The Biden Administration used the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to impose de-facto EV mandates, driving up prices and reducing options for American families.

  • When drivers aren’t incentivized with taxpayer subsidized handouts to purchase an EV, their sales have plummeted. According to data from Cox Automotive, EVs totaled nearly 12% of the U.S. market in September, a record high. In January, that share dropped to 6%.

  • By addressing fuel economy standards, President Trump and his administration are ensuring that Americans are not forced into purchasing costly EVs that they do not want to buy.

  • By reducing costs and making newer, safer vehicles more affordable, this proposal is projected to save more than 1,500 lives and prevent nearly 250,000 serious injuries.

CLICK HERE to read the full letter.
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Apr 1, 2026
Press Release

ICYMI: New York Post Feature: House GOP Subpoenas California Official Over Refusal to Drop EV Mandate

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In case you missed it, the New York Post recently published an article highlighting Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, issuing a subpoena to California Air Resources Board (CARB) Chair Lauren Sanchez after the agency failed to comply with the Committee’s requests for documents related to California’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate and its continued implementation of regulations nullified by Congress.

In Case You Missed It:

“A powerful House panel took the extraordinary step of subpoenaing a California official, claiming her agency had refused to hand over relevant records during a seven-month investigation into the state’s electric vehicle (EV) mandate, according to a letter obtained by The Post.

“The House Energy and Commerce Committee issued the subpoena to California Air Resources Board Chair Lauren Sanchez on Monday, demanding communications and documents regarding regulations that Golden State officials said would transition away from gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

“‘Forcing Americans to buy unreliable, and costly, EVs would eliminate consumer choice, strain our electric grid, raise costs, and increase our reliance on entities tied to the Chinese Communist Party,’ House Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) told The Post.

“‘We will continue to follow the facts and demand accountability from California. I urge California to comply with this subpoena speedily and in good faith.’

“A CARB spokesperson responded that the agency in the past ‘has provided information and documents,’ including on ‘California’s longstanding authority under the Clean Air Act and the actions CARB has taken to protect public health and welfare in the state.’

“‘CARB’s goal is to support the Committee’s legislative inquiry through a transparent, cooperative exchange of information,’ the rep added.

“The Biden administration had signed off on waivers for California to impose the regulations — but President Trump nullified the waivers last June in response to three resolutions that passed on a bipartisan basis in the House and Senate.

“At a White House bill-signing event, Trump boasted that the three Congressional Review Act resolutions would ‘kill the California mandates forever.’

“But Guthrie wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoena that California has still been ‘denying auto manufacturers approval to bring vehicles to market unless the manufacturers agreed to comply with the regulations that had already been nullified through these CRA resolutions.’

“‘After months of negotiations, CARB’s lack of cooperation with this investigation requires the issuance of compulsory process,’ Guthrie told Sanchez in the missive.

“The CRA resolutions targeted waivers that had allowed the state to impose higher vehicle pollution standards than are in effect at the federal level under provisions of the Clean Air Act.

“Those standards — such as the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT), Advanced Clean Cars (ACC) and Heavy-Duty Omnibus Law-NOx regulations — were championed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and later became a template for more than a dozen other states.

“Section 209(b) of the Clean Air Act prohibits states from implementing emissions standards on new cars or engines that differ from those imposed by the federal government, unless they obtain a waiver.

“Newsom, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the California Air Resources Board shortly after joined with a group of 10 other state AGs to sue the Trump administration for disapproving of the waivers for EV regulations in June.

“That’s led to a lengthy federal court battle, which is currently being heard by the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Newsom also signed an executive order in June 2025 following the revocation of California’s waivers asking CARB to submit another proposal that would help the state transition from fossil fuels.

“In March, the Department of Justice fired back with a suit against California over a fuel economy regulation that the Trump administration has also seen as effectively an EV mandate.

“The House committee, which began its probe in August, noted in its letter that it was specifically seeking ‘communications between CARB and the California Governor’s Office and the California Attorney General’s office.’

“‘Reviewing these documents and communications is vital to understanding what actions, including actions related to enforcement and implementation of the aforementioned laws and regulations, the state of California has taken thus far with respect to its new vehicle and new motor emission reduction plans following the CRA resolutions signed into law last year,’ Guthrie said.”
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Mar 31, 2026
Press Release

Chairman Guthrie Issues Subpoena to California Air Resources Board

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Brett Guthrie (KY-02), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, issued a subpoena to California Air Resources Board (CARB) Chair Lauren Sanchez for documents and communications related to CARB’s implementation of vehicle emissions regulations that were nullified by Congress. This marks Chairman Guthrie’s first subpoena as Chairman of the Committee.

Despite three bipartisan Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions being signed into law last year preventing California from implementing vehicle standards that would ban the sale of gas-powered cars and trucks through its Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT), Advanced Clean Cars (ACC) II, and Omnibus Low NOx (Omnibus) regulations, Committee staff received reports that California has been denying auto manufacturers approval to bring vehicles to market unless manufacturers agree to comply with the nullified regulations.

After CARB failed to cooperate with multiple requests from the Committee, despite repeated accommodations, Chairman Guthrie issued the subpoena to compel the production of documents regarding CARB’s implementation of the ACT, ACC II, and Omnibus regulations, including communications between CARB and Governor Gavin Newsom’s office, as well as CARB and the California Attorney General’s Office.

Chairman Guthrie issued the following statement following the subpoena:

“The Committee began its investigation after reports that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) had been denying approvals to bring new vehicles to market unless auto manufacturers agreed to comply with California’s burdensome EV mandate, despite the fact it had been nullified by CRA resolutions signed into law last June. California’s refusal to cooperate with our investigation has left the Committee no choice but to issue a subpoena in order to receive the documents it requested from CARB,” said Chairman Guthrie. “Forcing Americans to buy unreliable, and costly, EVs would eliminate consumer choice, strain our electric grid, raise costs, and increase our reliance on entities tied to the Chinese Communist Party. We will continue to follow the facts and demand accountability from California. I urge California to comply with this subpoena speedily and in good faith.”

BACKGROUND:

  • Section 209(a) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) prohibits states from adopting or attempting to enforce emissions standards for new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines. Under Section 209(b), California may request a waiver of federal preemption from the EPA.

  • The EPA had approved waivers under prior administrations that allowed California to implement vehicle regulations, including bans on gas, diesel, and hybrid vehicles and mandates for 100% electric vehicle sales by 2035.

  • On June 12, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed three resolutions of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act—H.J. Res. 87, H.J. Res. 88, and H.J. Res. 89—which collectively disapproved California’s waivers of preemption that allowed the state to impose vehicle emissions standards that effectively banned the sale of new gas-powered vehicles. The CRA resolutions passed Congress with bipartisan support.

  • California and several other states have challenged the CRA resolutions in court; the case is currently pending, and no injunction has been issued.

  • EV adoption rates remain below the targets outlined in those waivers. For example, ACC II would have required New York to reach 35% EV sales in model year 2026, while current EV market share is substantially lower. California, which leads the nation in EV adoption, had a market share of almost 26% as of December 2024.

  • The production of EV batteries relies on critical minerals sourced largely from supply chains controlled by foreign entities. Mining and processing of these minerals, particularly in China, is highly emissions-intensive compared with U.S. production.

CLICK HERE to read the New York Post’s exclusive coverage of the ongoing investigation.

CLICK HERE to read the cover letter of the subpoena.
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