Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. FALLON. Mr. Chair, I rise today to offer an amendment that prohibits funding for the Department of Energy's new rule on gas furnaces. It is a regulation that would drastically impact consumers in a negative way, unfortunately.

Under this rule, manufacturers would only be allowed to sell furnaces that convert at least 95 percent of fuel into heat, within 6 years. The Department of Energy is forcing consumers to choose between an electric heat pump or expensive home renovations.

Once again, unelected bureaucrats are gaslighting--yes, pun intended--Congress and the American people about what they can do under the law. Under the guise of improving energy efficiency, as prescribed by the Environmental Policy and Conservation Act, or EPCA, this administration has attacked every single affordable appliance on the market. This gas furnace rule is just the latest salvo. We have been having hearings in the Oversight Committee about just this kind of thing: Are we going to have gas stoves, things like that.

EPCA states that any standard must result in significant energy conservation and be ``technologically feasible'' and ``economically justifiable.''

We have the authority to question the extent of these proposed standards to determine whether they can be construed as both technologically feasible and economically justifiable.

Like many of the home appliances standards rammed through by this administration, this rule falls short of these criteria. The National Propane Gas Association estimates that this rule would impact at least 40 percent of gas-furnaced homes and would remove up to 60 percent of current residential furnaces off the market. Additionally, the Department of Energy estimates affected homes will have to pay $2,300 for renovations plus thousands of additional dollars for actual furnaces.

Propane customers in Texas have already faced a 37 percent increase over the last 3 years, and this administration, quite frankly, should focus on lowering costs and not increasing them.

Agency actions that remove consumer choice operate on the assumption that the Federal Government knows what is best for its citizens, even more so than the citizens themselves. That is why I have always been a big, limited-government person. I trust you, Mr. Chair, more so than I would trust the Federal Government to know what kind of stove or gas furnace you want to heat your home. News flash: You know and the bureaucrats don't.

If we want to have something that severe, it should be legislated. There are 435 of us here for a reason. When we come here, if we want to change the law or create laws, there is a process for that. It shouldn't be unelected, nameless, faceless bureaucrats with that kind of power.

This amendment is a check on arrogant bureaucrats who think that they know best for you, Mr. Chair, many of our constituents, and everyday Americans across the country.

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Mr. FALLON. Mr. Chair, may I inquire how much time I have remaining.

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Mr. FALLON. Mr. Chair, I will not be able to say everything I want to, but I do want to thank my colleague for correcting me. It is not unelected bureaucrats. They are trained unelected bureaucrats. I wanted to thank her for that.

The Department of Energy relies upon modeling techniques within the technical support document, or TSD, that overstate the calculated climate benefits of reduced emissions in order to justify more stringent energy efficiency standards. They did the same thing, the same rule, with the gas stoves.

The gentlewoman said it is not on some whim, Mr. Chairman. In the rulemaking, the Department of Energy uses random assignment modeling-- that sounds like close to a whim to me--to guess consumer decisions and ignores economic considerations consumers use to make decisions.

The rule states that EPCA is not fuel neutral. This isn't the case.

I have a lot more to say, Mr. Chairman, but we are on a 5-minute limit time, and it is late at night.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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