WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-controlled House on Tuesday advanced legislation aimed at fulfilling President Donald Trump’s long-running desire to “make showers great again” by voting to loosen federal efficiency standards for showerheads.
The bill — dubbed the Saving Homeowners from Overregulation With Exceptional Rinsing, or Shower ACT — passed 226-197, with 11 Democrats crossing the aisle in support.
Republicans have argued the measure would wash away unnecessary regulations and allow more water to flow through showerheads. Democrats warn the relaxed standards could soak consumers with higher utility bills and worsen environmental impacts.
“If they want a nozzle that dribbles on their head, well then go get one of those. If you want something that slices an orange, well then go get one of those. That should be your choice as a consumer," said GOP Rep. Russell Fry, sponsor of the bill.
The legislation is light on details, and its prospects in the Senate are uncertain as members of that chamber focus attention on government funding and foreign policy. Still, it's part of a broader effort by House Speaker Mike Johnson to codify Trump's executive actions in federal law.
In April, Trump signed an executive order calling for an immediate end to water conservation standards that limit the gallons per minute flowing through showerheads and other household appliances, including dishwashers, washing machines, and toilets. The House bill builds on that directive, seeking to reduce what Republicans view as overregulation by permitting stronger water flow in homes than current standards allow.
Environmental groups have criticized the proposal, warning it would increase water consumption and energy use. Democrats echoed those concerns and questioned why Republicans were spending time on the issue.
“Why on God’s green earth, on the first full day that this Congress is back in 2026, are the Republicans using the floor time — in the midst of armed conflict and daily corruption by this administration — to run a bill on rich people showers?” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., during debate last week.
For over three decades, federal energy law has outlined appliance standards that determine new showerheads shouldn’t pour out more than 2.5 gallons of water per minute (9.5 liters). The Obama administration refined the restrictions and applied those limits to the water that comes out of the entire showerhead, even ones with several nozzles.
During his first term, Trump relaxed that rule to allow each nozzle of a showerhead spray as much as 2.5 gallons. The Biden administration reversed Trump’s action in 2021.
Republicans defended the bill as a necessary corrective. GOP Rep. Michael Rulli of Ohio said Republicans are “worried about the working man.”
“You go on vacation, you go to a motel and you get a shower, it’s the worst shower you ever had. It’s cold. It’s dripping out there. The working man cannot even enjoy his daily life,” Rulli said.
President Donald Trump gestures as he walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump offered a full-throated defense of his sweeping tariffs on Tuesday, traveling to swing-state Michigan to push the case that he’s boosted domestic manufacturing in hopes of countering fears about a weakening job market and still-rising prices that have squeezed American pocketbooks.
Trump visited the factory floor of a Ford plant in Dearborn, where he viewed F-150s — the bestselling domestic vehicle in the U.S. — at various stages of production. That included seeing how gas and hybrid models were built, as well as the all-gas Raptor model, designed for off-road use.
The president chatted with assembly line workers as well as the automaker’s executive chairman, Bill Ford, a descendent of Henry Ford. “All U.S. automakers are doing great," Trump said.
He later gave a speech to the Detroit Economic Club that was meant to be focused on his economic policies but veered heavily to other topics as well. Those included falsely claiming to have won Michigan three times (he lost the state in 2020 to Joe Biden) and recalling the snakes that felled workers during U.S. efforts to build the Panama Canal more than a century ago.
“The results are in, and the Trump economic boom has officially begun,” the president said at the MotorCity Casino. He argued that “one of the biggest reasons for this unbelievable success has been our historic use of tariffs.”
The president said that tariffs were “overwhelmingly” paid by “foreign nations and middlemen” — even as economists say steep import taxes are simply passed from overseas manufactures to U.S. consumers, helping exacerbate fears about the rising cost of living.
“It’s tariffs that are making money for Michigan and the entire country,” the president said, insisting that “every prediction the critics made about our tariff policy has failed to materialize.”
But voters remain worried about the state of the economy. The Michigan stop — his third trip to a swing state since last month to talk about his economic policies — followed a poor showing for Republicans in November’s off-year elections in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere amid persistent concerns about kitchen table issues.
The White House pledged after Election Day that Trump would hit the road more frequently to talk directly to the public about what he is doing to ease their financial fears. The president tried to drive that home on Tuesday, but only amid lengthy asides.
“I go off teleprompter about 80% of the time, but isn’t it nice to have a president who can go off teleprompter?” he said, before mocking Biden, suggesting his predecessor gave short speeches and doing an impression that included a dramatic clearing of his throat.
Trump promised to unveil a new “health care affordability framework” later this week that he promised would lower the cost of care. He also pledged to soon offer more plans to help with affordability nationwide — even as he blamed Democrats for hyping up the issue.
“One of our top priorities of this mission is promoting greater affordability. Now, that’s a word used by the Democrats," Trump said. “They’re the ones who caused the problem.”
Despite cheering tariffs, Trump has actually backed off the import taxes when it comes to the automobile sector. The president originally announced 25% tariffs on automobiles and auto parts, only to later relax those, seeking to provide domestic automakers some relief from seeing their production costs rise.
Ford nonetheless announced in December that it was scrapping plans to make an electric F-150, despite pouring billions of dollars into broader electrification. That followed the Trump administration slashing targets to have half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030, eliminated EV tax credits and proposed weakening the emissions and gas mileage rules.
While touring the plant, video posted by TMZ showed Trump making an obscene gesture at someone who was yelling at him from afar. White House spokesman Steven Cheung said "a lunatic was wildly screaming expletives in a complete fit of rage, and the president gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”
Trump also suggested during the tour that a major North American trade pact he negotiated during his first term, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, was irrelevant and no longer necessary for the United States — though he provided few details.
Known as the USMCA, it is up for review this year.
The president's attempt to shift national attention to his efforts to spur the economy comes as his Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a move that Powell says is a blatant endeavor to undermine the central bank's independence in setting interest rates.
Critics of the move include former Fed chairs, economic officials and even some Republican lawmakers. Trump lobbed his often-repeated criticisms of Powell during his trip, but offered little mention of the investigation.
Some good economic news for Trump arrived, though, before he left Washington, with new data from December showing inflation declined a bit last month as prices for gas and used cars fell — a sign that cost pressures are slowly easing. Consumer prices rose 0.3% in December from the prior month, the Labor Department said, the same as in November.
“We have quickly achieved the exact opposite of stagflation, almost no inflation and super-high growth,” he said in his speech.
The Michigan stop follows speeches Trump gave last month in Pennsylvania — where his gripes about immigrants arriving to the U.S. from “filthy” countries got more attention than his pledges to fight inflation — and North Carolina, where he also insisted his tariffs have spurred the economy, despite residents noting the sting of higher prices.
Like in Michigan, Trump also used a casino as a backdrop to talk about the economy in Pennsylvania, giving his speech there at Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono.
Trump carried Michigan in 2016 and 2024, after it swung Democratic and backed Biden in 2020. He marked his first 100 days in office with a rally-style April speech outside Detroit, where he focused more on past campaign grudges than his administration's economic or policy plans.
Democrats seized on Trump's latest trip to the state to recall his visit in October 2024, when Trump, then also addressing the Detroit Economic Club, said that Democrats' retaining the White House would mean “our whole country will end up being like Detroit."
"You’re going to have a mess on your hands,” Trump said during a campaign stop back then.
About 100 people protested outside the venue where Trump spoke Tuesday, including Kassandra Rodriguez, a member of the Detroit Community Action Committee.
“He says a lot, but he means very little and I think we can see that,” Rodriguez said of the president. “He doesn’t know how to enact real policy in a real way.”
Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press reporter Michelle L. Price contributed to this report from Washington.
President Donald Trump gestures from the stairs of Air Force One as he boards upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
President Donald Trump listens to Corey Williams, Ford River Rouge Plant Manager, left, and Bill Ford, Executive Chairman of Ford, during a tour of the Ford River Rogue complex, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Marine One, with President Donald Trump aboard, flies past the Jefferson Memorial, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2006, in Washington, after departing the White House, enroute to Joint Base Andrews and onto Detroit. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Donald Trump speaks during a tour of the Ford River Rogue complex, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One for a trip to Detroit, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump speaks to, from left Bill Ford, Executive Chairman of Ford, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, and Corey Williams, Ford River Rouge Plant Manager, during a tour of the Ford River Rogue complex, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Dearborn, Mich. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
FILE - President Donald Trump shakes hands with Federal Reserve board member Jerome Powell after announcing him as his nominee for the next chair of the Federal Reserve, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Nov. 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
President Donald Trump points as he boards Air Force One for a trip to Detroit, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, reflected on door, leave to board Marine One, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
