Pallone Rebukes Frivolous Republican Bill Fighting for “Refrigerator Freedom” on House Floor

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks as prepared for delivery on the House floor today in opposition to H.R. 7637, a Republican bill to protect so-called “refrigerator freedom” and put polluters over people:

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

Mr. Speaker, just like our debate on H.R. 7700, which we just completed, there is no reason for the House to be debating this bill today. It already passed as part of the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act in May. And yet, House Republicans are wasting all of our time by bringing it up again. It’s just another example of why they cannot govern.

We’re here to debate H.R. 7637, the Refrigerator Freedom Act. That’s right – Republicans are fighting to give refrigerators freedom. Imagine that – you don’t hear them fighting for the same thing for American women. In fact, Republicans are trying to strip away a woman’s freedom when it comes to reproductive health care, pushing nationwide abortion bans. Talk about misplaced priorities.  

H.R. 7637, along with the other anti-efficiency bills pushed by Republicans, are bad for Americans. It robs Americans of savings on their monthly home energy bills and ignores that even the appliance manufacturing industry supports these standards. 

This bill will increase energy bills for American families. H.R. 7637 targets the Department of Energy's (DOE) recently finalized refrigerator efficiency standards. The bill adds burdensome and vague language to the standards setting process and creates unattainable metrics for the enforcement of standards. If this bill becomes law, DOE will be unable to enforce its recently finalized, consensus-based standards.  

When setting appliance standards, DOE already has to ensure that the standards are economically justifiable, technologically feasible, and result in energy savings. And, just like the last standard that Republicans targeted, the refrigerator standard is the result of a consensus agreement between the appliance manufacturing industry, efficiency advocates, and consumer advocates. Meaning that everyone supports the standard except for Republicans. 

And it’s easy to understand why. Refrigerator standards haven’t been updated in over a decade, so it was time to revisit them. And this new standard is projected to save Americans more than $36 billion over 30 years. That’s significant savings for American families, and yet House Republicans are so comfortable of robbing them of these savings. Models that meet the new standards are already on the market so the standards are certainly achievable. 

The problem with this bill is that it threatens DOE’s ability to do its job. It enables future administrations to chip away at efficiency standards and muddies the process so much that implementation of new standards is threatened. This bill includes the same harmful provision that prohibits DOE from enforcing new or existing standards if they increase upfront costs, even marginally. It totally disregards the significant savings associated with energy-efficient appliances that Americans see firsthand on their monthly energy bills in the months and years after they purchase the new appliance. It also ignores the fact that DOE already has a robust process to evaluate costs and savings. 

In the last debate, I mentioned Project 2025, a shadowy effort by Trump Administration officials and those who would staff a second Trump Administration to implement far-right policies. A lot of Republicans claim not to know anything about Project 2025 – even President Trump said that – and they claim they don't want to implement some of its ideas.

But the bill on the floor today shows just how phony that claim is. The fact of the matter is, these bills, along with the other anti-efficiency bills Republicans have passed this Congress, are Project 2025. House Republicans and their leader Donald Trump don't just know about Project 2025 – they love it. They want to pass it. They have passed it already, in many aspects, and are actively working right now as we debate this bill to make Project 2025 the law of the land. This bill is part of an orchestrated campaign not only to make you pay more at the pump and on your electricity bills, but also to bring America back to not just the 20th Century, but to the 1800's. And I oppose that. And for that reason, I urge all of my colleagues to oppose this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.  

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