Congress orders cost-benefit study on federal EV fleet conversion
H.R. 2188 — COST Act · Filed by Randy Feenstra (R-IA) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 18, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the federal government's accounting office (Comptroller General) to study the costs of replacing gasoline-powered federal vehicles with electric vehicles or ethanol-blend vehicles, and requires the Department of Energy to analyze the lifetime greenhouse gas emissions from each type. The results must be published within one year to help Congress decide whether to convert the federal fleet.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole function is to commission two comparative studies—one on conversion costs, one on lifecycle emissions—to inform future federal vehicle procurement policy. It is a straightforward analytical directive with no regulatory or appropriations mechanism.
What the text implies
- The GREET model analysis may reveal that ethanol vehicles have higher lifecycle emissions than electric vehicles, potentially undermining support for ethanol-based alternatives and favoring EV adoption.
- Cost analysis may expose infrastructure deployment barriers (charging networks, maintenance) that could delay or complicate federal EV transition, informing realistic timelines.
- Publication of comparative data could influence state and local fleet decisions beyond federal government, amplifying the bill's indirect policy impact.
Who it affects
Citizens benefit from transparent cost and emissions data that informs federal purchasing decisions affecting air quality, energy independence, and long-term taxpayer spending. The bill creates no new mandates or costs—only analysis to support better decision-making.
Who stands to gain
- electric vehicle manufacturers
- charging infrastructure companies
- ethanol fuel producers
Named in the bill
Comptroller General, Department of Energy, General Services Administration, Argonne National Laboratory, GREET model, House Committee on Energy and Commerce, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 Republicans.
- Mar 18, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 18, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $70,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 8 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Randy Feenstra, the sponsor, reported $570,750 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Coalition for Ethanol — $70,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 16, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the full bill text on Jul 2, 2026; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 16, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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