Providing for Congressional Disapproval of the Rule Submitted By the Department of Energy Relating to ``Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Walk-In Coolers and Walk-In Freezers''

Floor Speech

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Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 242, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 24) providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Energy relating to ``Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Walk-In Coolers and Walk-In Freezers'', and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.

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Mr. WEBER of Texas. Res. 24.

Mr. Speaker, on December 23, 2024, as American households and businesses were in the process of preparing for the holidays, the Biden-Harris Department of Energy finalized burdensome and unnecessary energy efficiency standards for walk-in coolers and walk-in freezers.

These products are staples--they are necessary--in businesses and restaurants across the country, and they play an essential role in providing consumers with safe and fresh food as well as drinks.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the Biden-Harris administration's final rule jeopardizes those very same small and independent retailers' ability to serve the communities that rely on them.

This final rule will force stores like small grocers and convenience stores to incur significant major up-front costs for new equipment. I know because I operated an air-conditioning business for 35 years. They will incur significant, major up-front costs on equipment while reckoning with associated operational disruptions and supply chain challenges. The Biden-Harris DOE itself estimated that the cost of these standards, which were last updated just a handful of years ago, to be almost $1 billion, with a b.

However, the real cost, Mr. Speaker, is likely much higher, as DOE ignored other costs businesses will be forced to absorb. An example of added costs is any structural changes needed to accommodate a new walk- in cooler or freezer in order to comply with their final rule.

Unfortunately, this final rule will disproportionately affect rural communities and small businesses. In many areas across the country, Mr. Speaker, including in my district in Texas, there are communities with limited food and drink retail options. It is not uncommon for a convenience store to bridge that gap in providing food to American families.

These same small businesses, which are often owned and operated by a single family or an individual, cannot afford the new equipment mandated by these unreasonable standards. In fact, 90 percent of food and drink retailers are categorized as small businesses and operate with a 1 to 3 percent margin. That is how slim their margin is.

The result will be significant costs being passed down to consumers and, in the worst case scenario, the shuttering of businesses, those mom-and-pop businesses that we all like. They may be shuttered, prevented from providing essential services to the very communities that they grew up in.

Thankfully, Mr. Speaker, the House is considering H.J. Res. 24, introduced by the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice) to repeal this disastrous final rule.

Over the last 4 years, small businesses have endured supply chain challenges, an inflationary environment, and regulatory uncertainty, just to name a few. Congress has the opportunity today to chart a new path for the small and independent retailers and grocers that feed American families by repealing this final rule.

I thank the gentlewoman from Oklahoma for her leadership on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.J. Res. 24. Once again, I am going to urge all my colleagues' support.

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Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am not quite sure how to respond to that. I don't know if some of our colleagues have been drinking this early or not.

That notwithstanding, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice).
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Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting for me to hear my colleagues across the aisle as an owner of an air-conditioning company that dealt with not just air-conditioning but convenience stores that had walk-in coolers, furnaces, and air-conditioners. I get that they speak from inexperience. I will give them that. What they don't realize is that when something like this is mandated, first of all, those businesses usually operate on a very, very thin margin. It could be 1.5 to 2, maybe sometimes almost 3 percent profit, which I know from experience.

When something like this has to be done, even a small walk-in cooler--let's just pick some figures. Let's say it costs $5,000 to $6,000, but the plumbing, electrical, carpentry, permits, and everything costs $10,000 to $12,000.

Now, they have a choice. They are either going to pass that on to their consumers in higher food prices, or they are going to continue to pay an extra $10 or $20 a month in electricity.

That is what is going to happen that they don't realize, that what they are wanting to do is mandate that businesses have to increase their expenses at the expense of the consumers because they are the ones that are going to pay for that.

I have watched this for a long time. I realize that they speak from inexperience.

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Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am going to make it short and sweet. I urge everybody to vote for H.J. Res. 24. I yield back the balance of my time.

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