Pallone Leads Opposition on House Floor to Legislation Raising Americans' Power Bills by Waging War on Clean, Affordable Sources of Energy

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks on the House floor today in opposition to H.R. 3628, legislation that attacks affordable clean energy and raises Americans' power bills:

Madam Chair, I rise in strong opposition to this bill. It is a wholesale attack on clean energy under the guise of reliability. But Americans can see through the nonsense here to the truth: Republicans are waging a culture war against wind and solar, and American families are footing the bill with higher monthly utility bills.

For a moment, I want to try and take Republicans at their word: that this bill is all about electric reliability – ensuring that the lights won’t go out. In that case, I have excellent news for my Republican colleagues – the law this bill amends, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act – or PURPA – already does that. The law requires states to have an integrated resource plan that considers reliability. That’s all we need to do, and Congress already did it – thirty-three years ago.

Of course, the only difference between that law and the language in this bill is the bogus definition about what counts as a, quote, “reliable generation facility.”

And it should come as no surprise that the only things that count are coal, natural gas, and nuclear. That’s it. Not wind, not solar – not either of those even when paired with battery storage. It’s completely ridiculous and the latest example of Republicans’ relentless attack on cheaper and cleaner energy sources.

Ever since President Trump took office earlier this year, Republicans have been obsessed with crusading against wind and solar whenever they can. They passed the Big Ugly Bill, which slashed tax incentives for clean energy and made electricity more expensive for everyone. They have tried to kill every wind or solar project on federal lands and in federal waters, driving up people’s energy bills even further. And now they are trying to put another thumb on the scale in favor of dirty fossil energy by pushing a bill with a fake definition of “reliable generation.”

And unfortunately, the American people are paying the price. This past summer, when much of the United States was in a so-called heat dome fueled by climate change, the grid’s electricity regulator said that solar helped save the day – preventing dangerous outages in that record heat.

The reality is that no single source of electricity is perfect. But that’s why storage and a diversity of generation resources is so important. But Republicans don’t care about how we can actually help the grid. Instead, they only care about extending fossil fuels at the expense of clean, cheap energy. 

This is just another instance when Republicans are doing the bidding of their corporate polluter friends over the needs of the American people. If they cared about the American people they would be bringing bills to the floor that would actually address the affordability crisis, but instead Republicans are debating this bill that they know will increase prices on Americans. By forcing states to consider preferencing dirty and expensive fossil energy, Republicans are increasing everyone’s utility bills even more than they already have.

But it’s just more of the same from a Republican Congress that’s dead set on increasing costs for American families. President Trump promised to cut Americans’ power bills in half, but instead he and Republicans are causing them to soar with their backward policies and their war on cheaper, cleaner energy. Since Trump took office, electricity prices are up 13 percent, and natural gas prices are up 8 percent. And they simply don’t care. They would rather continue to push bills, like this, that will make the affordability crisis even worse.

I urge my colleagues to vote no on this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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