Saving Homeowners From Overregulation with Exceptional Rinsing Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to set the scene in contrast to some of the revisionist history that Democrats seem to be talking about today.

The definition of a showerhead was outlined very clearly in a 1975 act that Congress passed, not some bureaucrat and not some administration. Congress actually got together and said we are going to have some efficiency standards on showerheads and a number of other things. We are going to pass this bill, in 1975, and for over 30 years that was the national standard.

Even the American Association for Mechanical Engineers, this is their definition that is in this bill. Along comes the Obama administration, and rather than take the very simple, easy-to-understand, congressionally mandated standard of what a showerhead is, the Obama administration, in some closet somewhere, decided we are going to reinvent the definition of a showerhead.

Now, why is this important? Because this is exactly why people have a problem with Washington, D.C. They make rules that are not congressionally driven, that the people elect their representatives to be their voice in Washington. No, it is some unelected, unaccountable bureaucrat that decides to create a problem and then solve the problem that they created.

This is a microcosm to a much larger problem. That is overregulation. I think the ranking member said Trump changed the definition. No, he changed it back. He changed it back to what Congress intended to begin with.

Now, we have the Biden administration that comes in and pulls it back again. We have this ping-pong effect of regulations that are creating uncertainty for manufacturers and creating uncertainty for consumers. You can take showerheads, but the Biden administration also did this on home appliances, gas stoves, any number of things. The degree of regulation that Democrats and their bureaucratic allies are willing to do even, as something as small as a showerhead, that should send alarm bells. Why are we not empowering people to make choices about what they want in their own homes?

If they want a nozzle that dribbles on their head, then go get one of those. If you want something that slices an orange, then go get one of those. That should be your choice as a consumer. But we find ourselves in this endless game of whack-a-mole in Washington, D.C., because bureaucrats create problems and then solve them like they have done something meritorious for the country. It is total BS.

This bill is quite simple: It restores the definition of a showerhead to what Congress originally intended in 1975. It was a law for 32 years before the problem was created by the Obama administration. Then they solved the problem.

The President is absolutely right not just on showerheads but on home appliances. The Democrats want to talk about energy costs. For a second, by the way, I think it is really rich coming from them because I think eight of the top ten States with the highest energy costs are blue States that are run by Democrat State legislators and Democrat governors. They want to talk about the rising cost of energy. It disproportionately affects blue States. Why? Because they have terrible policies.

This bill is quite simple: It restores the definition that Congress originally intended. If an administration, any future administration, wants to change policy, rather than that coming from the bureaucrats, it should come before Congress. Congress set the efficiency standards in 1975, and if Congress wants to address those, that is Congress' prerogative, not some unelected, unaccountable bureaucrat in Washington, D.C.

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