House Biden Remarks that This Act is CONGRESS AT IT’S WORST

Congress At It’s WORST

Legislation sponsored by a few House Democrats and Republicans aims to thwart new energy efficiency standards for dishwashers and refrigerators implemented by the Biden administration.

 

Tuesday night, the Refrigerator Freedom Act, sponsored by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, and the Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act, sponsored by Rep. Nick Langworthy of New York, passed largely along party lines.

 

 

Each bill received votes from seven House Democrats. There was no opposition from the GOP when the dishwasher standards bill passed 214–192. The refrigerator law had 212 votes in favor and 192 votes against.

 

The House GOP has stated that the purpose of both proposals is to forbid the Secretary of Energy from adopting and implementing “energy efficiency standards for residential refrigerators, freezers, and dishwashers that are not technologically feasible and economically justified.” Additionally, it would prohibit regulations that failed to produce “significant conservation of energy.”

 

During Tuesday’s bill debate, Langworthy charged that the Biden DOE was engaged in a “relentless assault on efficient, affordable, and reliable appliances for everyday Americans”.

According to the Department of Energy, the new proposed rule on dishwashers would reduce water usage by the machines by more than 25% and save Americans $652 million in utility costs.

 

However, House Republicans stated, “DOE’s own analysis finds that efficiency mandates could increase the upfront cost by 28%, and it could take consumers 12 years to pay back the increased costs on a product that may only last 7-12 years.”

 

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., maintained during the bill’s discussion that the payback period for dishwashers under the new standard was 3.9 years, claiming Republicans’ calculations were outdated and tied to an older rule. According to the Department, the new regulations that the DOE proposed earlier this year for home refrigerators and freezers will save customers more than $36 billion over the course of 30 years.

 

Republican members of the House, however, cited a DOE estimate that “determines that efficiency mandates could raise the upfront costs by 25%, and it could take consumers 10 years to pay back the increased costs for a product that may only last 14–15 years.”

 

This is a component of the broader legislative approach being employed by House Republicans to counter President Biden’s Department of Energy’s climate-friendly regulatory agenda. A quick back-and-forth concerning Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., and Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., regarding their respective expertise with the dishwasher caused the debate over the bill to become heated on Monday afternoon.

 

“This legislation is absurd. “This is Congress at its worst,” Porter remarked amid the impassioned discussion. The American people should not be allowed to purchase the type of dishwasher that a group of people who have never unloaded a dishwasher encourage them to buy. I yield back on behalf of all American women who will load and unload tonight and then again tomorrow morning.”