Pallone Leads Opposition to Republicans' Bill Gutting Energy Efficiency Standards and Raising Americans' Home Energy Bills

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. 7673, the so-called "Liberty in Laundry Act," which guts the Department of Energy's energy efficiency standards for laundry machines, raising Americans' energy bills:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. 

We are quickly approaching the final days of this Congress, and after spending a year on the campaign trail promising to lower prices for working families, today House Republicans are bringing up a bill that will raise energy bills for those very same families.  

H.R. 7673 guts popular energy efficiency standards for laundry machines – standards that save Americans money on their utility bills and reduce dangerous greenhouse gas pollution at the same time. These efficiency standards create certainty for manufacturers and they protect consumers from rising costs. And, in the case of these laundry machine standards, they also reduce water use – a benefit that could greatly aid drought-prone regions around the nation. 

What’s more, the Biden Administration’s energy efficiency actions are projected to save Americans $1 trillion and reduce greenhouse gas pollution by more than 2.5 billion metric tons over the next 30 years. The laundry machine standard that this bill guts is on track to save Americans $18 billion on their utility bills over the next 30 years as well.

But today’s Republican Party is unpersuaded by things like facts and cost savings. With this bill, Republicans are proving that their vow to lower costs was nothing more than an empty campaign promise.

This legislation actively works to raise Americans’ energy bills all so they can curry favor with their special interest friends and do the bidding of their fossil fuel industry friends. Absolutely no one else stands to benefit from this legislation, proving once and for all that Republicans only pay lip service to lowering costs when it’s campaign season.

That’s why this bill conveniently ignores the efficiency standards-setting process that already exists at the Department of Energy (DOE), which already requires that these standards result in significant savings, be technologically feasible, and economically justifiable.  

In fact, DOE’s process works so well that the laundry machines standard targeted by this bill was actually the result of a consensus agreement between the appliance industry, efficiency advocates, and consumer advocates. They actually embrace reality, and the reality is that laundry machine standards haven’t been updated in more than a decade, many models that meet the new standard already exist, and appliance manufacturers have said they do not feel burdened by it. 

This all begs the question – why are Republicans trying to undermine a process that brings everyone to the table to lower costs? Who, exactly, is asking for this bill?

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 7673 would effectively overturn DOE’s recently finalized efficiency standards and prohibit DOE from enforcing any standard that increases upfront costs by even a single penny – completely ignoring the massive savings Americans would enjoy on their home energy bills over the long run. So I oppose this legislation because it will increase energy costs for American families and undermine our ongoing efforts to combat the worsening climate crisis. Republicans will go out of their way to cut taxes for their wealthy billionaire friends, but when it comes to taking actions that lower costs for everyday Americans, they’re nowhere to be found.  

I urge all my colleagues to oppose this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time. 

###