Liberty in Laundry Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to this partisan energy appliance bill. Time and time again in this Congress, we keep seeing these bills brought to the floor that are partisan messaging bills meant to rile up the American people, not really get something done, while continuing to put off the work that the American people sent us here to do.

H.R. 7673 isn't the first anti-efficiency bill we have seen on the House floor this year. I say to my Republican colleagues and friends, I am not sure what we are really getting done. The Liberty in Laundry Act, along with other anti-efficiency bills this Congress, would delay and weaken popular energy efficiency standards, courting favor with polluters, not consumers.

The bill attacks existing standards and sends a message to the incoming Trump administration to attack existing standards and undermine the entire program. Bills like the Liberty in Laundry Act show that Republicans don't want to help save American consumers money on their energy bills.

I wish we could work together on doing things that the American people need us to do instead of going after America's household appliances. The fear-mongering continues, and it is nothing more than politics designed to scare consumers.

I am a car girl. Hey, I am not old, but I am seasoned. When the administration, Republicans and Democrats, wanted to increase fuel efficiency standards, American consumers wanted it, and yet on the floor of both houses, people stood up against it. I will tell you what, the American consumer likes those fuel efficiency standards. It saved them money.

The American people sent us here to work together in a bipartisan manner to find commonsense solutions, and that is what I want to work with my colleagues on, but we don't have much time left in this Congress, so I am just saying, can we please work together on the real issues facing the American people instead of talking about people's dirty laundry?

Let me say again, we are politicizing washing machines. Why? We have real work to do to cut costs and make life better for Americans. We need to fund the government. Attacking popular energy efficiency standards is not why our constituents sent us here. They want us to save them money.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 7673. We need to work on things that will make a difference for consumers every day in the remaining days of the 118th Congress.

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