Overview

• Republican leaders used a Sept. 16 hearing to allege EPA and DOJ relied on armed raids, criminal charges and burdensome consent decrees that pressured small shops into settlements.
• Chairman Clay Higgins said the Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement will conduct a comprehensive review of regulatory agencies’ law‑enforcement authorities to consider potential curbs.
• Kory Willis of Power Performance Enterprises told lawmakers he paid in excess of $3.1 million and said legal costs exceeded $7 million, describing a 2022 consent decree that he said devastated his business.
• Court records show Willis and his company pleaded guilty in March 2022 to conspiracy and Clean Air Act violations tied to aftermarket defeat devices, with EPA citing serious diesel health risks including an estimate of 21,000 U.S. deaths annually from diesel particulate matter.
• Democrats and former EPA official Eric Schaeffer emphasized that federal courts have upheld Clean Air Act coverage of tampering devices and noted the enforcement initiative began in Trump’s first term, as Republicans press to limit agency powers.