President Joe Biden has less than two weeks left in office, but that hasn't stopped him and his White House from continuing to try to implement at the last moment various aspects of their progressive policy agenda.

The limited time remaining also hasn't stopped Republican state attorneys general from filing lawsuits to block Biden's agenda, with the latest example being centered on arbitrarily increased energy efficiency standards for newly constructed homes, according to Fox News.

More than a dozen states, led by Utah and Texas, have joined together with the National Association of Home Builders to challenge the constitutionality of the new standards imposed by the Biden administration's Departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development.

Biden admin imposed new energy efficiency standards for newly constructed homes

In April 2024, the Federal Register published a "final determination" on the "Adoption of Energy Efficiency Standards for New Construction of HUD- and USDA-Financed Housing."

Per a HUD press release, the final determination from the two agencies "updates minimum energy standards for newly built homes financed through the covered HUD and USDA programs," and purportedly will reduce energy costs and improve health outcomes over time for most homeowners.

However, the coalition of 15 Republican-led states and the home builders association strongly disagree and insist that the new standards are overly burdensome, will make new homes unaffordable for most buyers, and exceed the statutory authorities claimed by the two federal agencies.

New standards will make new homes unaffordable

In a statement last week to announce the lawsuit, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said, "Even as our nation prepares to transition to a new administration, the outgoing HUD and USDA offices are committed to inflicting unwanted and unneeded cost increases on Americans who are already struggling to pay their bills, provide for their families, and secure a brighter future for their children."

"Our multi-state action, in collaboration with the National Association of Home Builders, is urgently seeking a roll-back on the radical environmental agendas that, if not changed, will devastate the American dream of home ownership," he added.

The statement further noted that while HUD and USDA projected that the new standards would increase the cost of a new home by about $8,000, industry professionals predicted cost increases would actually be around an additional $31,000 per new home, which could push the total price of those now-unaffordable homes out of reach for most low- and middle-income families.

Complaint filed

In their 45-page lawsuit, the coalition asserted that the authorizing statutes cited by HUD and USDA have been "stretched to the breaking point to support a green agenda that Congress never enacted, with the upshot of reducing the affordability and availability of low-income housing."

"Not surprisingly, HUD and USDA’s action is contrary to the statute’s plain language and Congress’s underlying intent. And the mechanism by which Defendants are proceeding makes clear the statute is unconstitutional," the complaint continued.

In the end, the states are asking the federal courts to declare the disputed Final Determination as being "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law," per AG Reyes' statement, and further requests the courts to issue an injunction to block HUD and USDA from applying the new energy efficiency standards for new home construction.

Texas led the charge to block Biden's agenda in court

Co-leading the lawsuit is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who boasted to Fox News that this was his 103rd lawsuit against the Biden administration and even suggested that there may be more suits to come, though he acknowledged that the administration may change before the pending litigation is ready to be filed.

Paxton told the outlet of his plethora of legal actions against Biden, "So, I don't know if anybody's close to that, but he's kept us busy because we've had to prevent him from being more of a king or a dictator than an elected executive who is responsible for implementing, not creating, laws."