Pallone Slams Republican Bills That Raise Americans' Energy Costs Over Ridiculous Anti-Energy Efficiency Crusade

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following opening remarks at today's Energy Subcommittee legislative hearing on appliance and building efficiency policies:

At a time when American families are struggling with rising energy bills thanks to the policies of President Trump and Congressional Republicans, today Committee Republicans are doubling down on legislative proposals that will further raise energy bills and threaten America’s power grid. These partisan bills are meant to prop up expensive fossil fuels so Republicans can score points with their billionaire buddies. It’s just part of their agenda to serve their corporate interest friends – not everyday, hardworking Americans.

Most of the bills we’re discussing today gut efficiency programs, make buildings use more energy, and raise costs for Americans.

These bills don’t just drive-up energy costs for Americans, they also threaten our ability to compete with China. We have had numerous hearings this Congress about data centers, artificial intelligence, and the increasing energy demand from these technologies. In these hearings, witnesses have made clear that we need more energy available on the grid in order to scale rapidly, meet this growing energy demand, and remain globally competitive.

Everyone knows that to meet growing demand, two things must happen. First, you need more energy on the grid, but in their Big Ugly Bill, Republicans eliminated incentives that get cheaper, clean energy on the grid quickly. This was a reckless action that will result in household energy bills increasing, as well as significant delays in getting new energy on the grid. Clean energy is fast to deploy and is crucial for meeting our growing energy demand and competing with China.

Second, you need to decrease energy consumption wherever possible and that’s where energy efficiency can play a critical role. By decreasing the energy consumption of households and businesses, more energy is available to meet greater demand.

Which is why it is baffling to me that Republicans, after slashing incentives to get energy on the grid quickly, are now pursuing policies to make our homes and buildings less energy efficient. All while they claim to support American energy dominance and want to compete with China in the AI race.

The Republican-led bills target the Department of Energy’s (DOE) ability to keep appliances efficient and affordable. They rip away appliance rebates, building codes funding, and workforce funding. They go after federal building efficiency and attack efficiency standards for manufactured housing. Taken together, these bills will dramatically increase household energy expenses.

I said this at last week’s hearing, but it bears repeating. Congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration spent the first eight months of the year targeting efficiency standards through numerous Congressional Review Act resolutions, gutting clean energy incentives, keeping expensive fossil fuel plants online, and imposing costly tariffs that are supercharging inflation. These actions directly result in rising costs for Americans. Republicans don’t care about lowering costs, all they care about is rewarding their oil and gas friends, punishing clean energy, and keeping President Trump happy.

Now there are a couple of bipartisan bills that I do support, including Congressman Tonko’s Weatherization Enhancement and Readiness Act. This bipartisan bill reauthorizes the Weatherization Assistance Program and raises the average cost per household so that more families can receive assistance that better matches their needs. It also authorizes the Weatherization Readiness Program to help households pursue structural repairs so they can then receive weatherization assistance.

This is an important and timely bill. So I really do hope that the bipartisan bills on today’s agenda receive the support they deserve. And I hope we can turn a corner on discussions about energy efficiency and recognize that it really is one of our best tools for keeping costs low and for remaining competitive. 

I thank the witnesses for being here today and yield back the balance of my time.

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