Ceiling Fan Improvement Act of 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support today of my bill (H.R. 5758), the Ceiling Fan Improvement Act.

In January 2017, the Department of Energy finalized energy conservation standards for ceiling fans that, unfortunately, did not account for the different airflow dynamics of large ceiling fans.

Under the current regulations, some of the most efficient large- diameter fans would have to be taken off the market in the U.S.

The Ceiling Fan Improvement Act is a bipartisan, commonsense bill that will ensure large-diameter fans are properly regulated. Technical innovation and new products will be key to improving energy efficiency and protecting our environment for generations to come, and the Ceiling Fan Improvement Act seeks to ensure that high-performing, large- diameter ceiling fans can remain on the market and help achieve real energy savings.

I thank Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky for working with me on this bill. I appreciate all the efforts she made to work with me and work together. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, while on the floor, I want to make some comments about some of our colleagues who are leaving.

Mr. Speaker, first, we are hallway roommates in the Rayburn Office Building. I will miss seeing you. Congratulations on where you are going. You are retiring. It has been a pleasure. Your staff is fantastic. Every time I walk by and pop my head in and say hello to them, they are always very gracious. So we are going to miss you guys.

Elected with me in 2008--Pete Olson was just recognized on the floor; farewell to him--when we first got elected to Congress, we were together in a new Member orientation. We were chatting with each other, and I think he said that he was born in Fort Lewis, Washington. We know he is Texas through and through, but he also had a sojourn in Alabama. We were talking, and I said: I was born in Alabama.

And he said: Well, I used to live in Alabama.

I said: I was born in Florence, Alabama.

Some of you may know Muscle Shoals is where some of the world's greatest music is from. That is where I was from.

He said: Well, I lived in Florence for a year.

I said: I lived in the Forest Hills neighborhood.

He said: I lived in the Forest Hills neighborhood. Did you ever know a Mr. McCugh?

I said: He was the kind of dad who was involved in everybody's lives. Yes, he was my Little League coach.

He said: He was my Little League coach.

I looked at him, and I said: You are little Petey Olson?

So Pete Olson and I come together to Congress in 2008 and found out we knew each other when we were kids. His dad worked for Champion, a big paper mill that went on to Houston.

I would also like to say that the Houston Oilers now play 1 hour from my home in Nashville. So we are proud to have them. I hope he still cheers for them in Nashville.

But what was interesting is we just said he is a year older, and I have never said this on the floor, but I would like to say this now: He is a year older than I, as his birthday is today. We had the same second grade teacher.

He said: Did you have Mrs. LeCates?

I said: I had Mrs. LeCates.

The story about Mrs. LeCates is that from the time summer was out that Pete Olson left and before school commenced that I went into second grade with Mrs. LeCates, something momentous that summer happened in her life. Her son, Second Lieutenant Robert LeCates, was killed in Vietnam. It is really the only name I personally know on the wall when I go. You have heard of people and you have different names you know and you hear stories about, but he is the only person I had a personal connection to. So every time I go to the wall, I have told him that. I said: Every time I go to the wall, I look at Robert LeCates, and I look at his name.

It reminds me to this day that there are people who sacrifice their lives for us to be here and for us to do what we are doing, and we need to conduct ourselves worthy of people who gave the ultimate sacrifice for that. So that was our story.

But I just want to close with talking about our former chairman and ranking member, Greg Walden, and wish him well in his retirement. He is outstanding to work with, just outstanding to work with. No matter what the subcommittee, he knew the policy, he knew what was going on, and he had his handle on it. But he also let us go out and do our work and then bring issues to him and move forward with him as well, particularly on the SUPPORT Act. That is the opioid epidemic bill, trying to address that. It has been a plague on my State like it has been on so many others.

He really gave people freedom to bring the best ideas and put all the best ideas together with both sides. He could always compromise without compromising his values and his principles. He said: If there is a way for both sides to win, let's find a way for both sides to win.

Mr. Speaker, I know the gentleman has yielded me as much time as I may consume. If I consumed everything to say what is good about you and the value you are to this institution, I would be here all afternoon because you have really made an impact on this institution. You have made an impact upon our conference.

I think people on both sides of the aisle have said your service here has made a difference, not for Congress, but through your service in Congress and for the country, and I thank you for that. We are going to miss you, and I wish you Godspeed as you move forward.

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