State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. MULLIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the so- called State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act. This measure will encourage State regulators to push our grid toward more expensive and polluting sources of energy at the very moment families are struggling with rising energy bills.

Across this country, households and small businesses are seeing electricity costs rise by hundreds of dollars. Demand for power is rising quickly, and this year, utilities have already proposed major rate hikes to the tune of $34 billion. Instead of helping lower bills with forward-looking technology, this legislation takes us backward, effectively promoting energy sources that take longer to build and deploy and cost more to operate.

These are costs that will be passed on directly to everyday Americans.

This comes 1 year after President Trump promised to cut energy prices in half. Instead, on his watch, prices are rising. According to multiple press reports, he privately urged oil executives to spend $1 billion in support of his campaign last year in exchange for promoting their interests as President.

Perhaps it is no surprise we are seeing policies that benefit the most expensive energy sources instead of the cheapest options available to consumers.

Utility-scale solar and wind are the lowest-cost sources of new power today. Together with battery storage, they can be built quickly, strengthen reliability, and keep bills down. This bill undermines State planning processes that would promote reliable and cheap sources of energy, which also happen to be the cleanest. It limits choice and will slow energy innovation, keeping prices higher than they need to be.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this bill and work together on real solutions that lower energy bills for the American people.

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