Don't Mess with My Home Appliances Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Guthrie for yielding the time and for his support of my bill, the Home Appliance Protection and Affordability Act.

Mr. Speaker, I will set the stage on exactly why this bill is necessary. In 1975, Congress established the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, or EPCA, to increase American energy production, encourage efficient energy use, and bolster national security.

Under EPCA, the Department of Energy sets efficiency standards for 60 product categories. These standards must be cost-effective, significantly save energy, and be technologically feasible.

However, under the Biden administration, the EPCA language was persistently misinterpreted to impose more stringent standards on the use of conventional home appliances and force the costly rush-to-green agenda on the American people in their outright war on the fossil fuel industry.

All of this was done with the stroke of a pen and threatened the affordability and availability of reliable appliances that Americans rely on every day. I can tell you firsthand. I was in my district last week. My constituents in the 12th District of Georgia do not need the Federal Government to tell them which household appliances will best meet the needs of their families, period.

One example is that I have a small business in my district, and they have warehouses and whatnot that they rent. The owner of that small business explained that he has a 5-year-old HVAC unit, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. He had a problem with it, and the contractor came out and said that they had a little problem. The unit is 5 years old, and he can't get the part to fix it.

Mr. Speaker, I will tell you the end of the story. He has to replace the entire unit, and it is going to cost three times as much as it cost 5 years ago. Are you telling me that this is going to save money? You have to be kidding.

The second example is the gas stove. They want to do away with our gas stoves. They said that you can't cook with gas anymore, and there was such an uproar that we didn't hear about that anymore.

In the third example, I have a little place up here that is about 1,400 square feet, and the unit went out. Of course, it couldn't keep it warm anyway because it is an electric heat pump, mandated by this city, and I have a gas line right in front of my house. I told the contractor that I want to put in gas heat, like I have back home in Georgia. He said that you can't do it.

A heat pump will not work below 32 degrees. Plus, you have a total electrical system when the heat pump shuts down.

Why are we running short of electricity? Because they aimed everything at electricity. There was a war on our gas industry, or fossil fuel industry, and that is the very industry that reduced our carbon footprint by 1,400 tons. The nearest nation to us is 200 tons.

Mr. Speaker, they are trying to put the very people who put us in this position out of business.

The Home Appliance Protection and Affordability Act is a necessary measure to prevent future administrations, like the past one, from issuing burdensome standards on household appliances that would drive up costs and reduce availability. It is that simple.

The naysayers, or those who will vote in opposition to this bill today, will stand here and tell you that this bill isn't necessary. They will question why this is what we are voting on this week. To that, I say that they can thank the previous administration.

The egregious appliance standards like those issued under President Biden's Department of Energy have caused homeowners to spend 34 percent more on appliances than they did 15 years ago, while also having to replace them at a faster rate, like the story I told about my constituent. Even more, these standards were neither economically justifiable nor significantly more efficient.

I would challenge anyone in this Chamber to find someone who wants the Federal Government to tilt the scales on what appliances they can and cannot buy while also increasing costs and reducing reliability.

Mr. Speaker, no amount of fear-mongering on energy efficiency and climate standards will justify the 4-year war waged on domestic energy, the use of natural gas, and consumer choice under the Biden-Harris Presidency. From gas stoves, refrigerators, and freezers to washers, dryers, dishwashers, and air-conditioners, no household appliance was off-limits in their pursuit of the green new scam.

We cannot allow that to happen again, and I have been proud to work closely with House Republicans this last year to right the ship and undo the many regulatory burdens that have caused the cost of living to skyrocket.

That is why we are here today: to protect consumer choice, lower costs, and ensure that American families have the freedom to decide what suits the needs of their families.

Mr. Speaker, I am thankful to Energy and Commerce Committee Chairmen Guthrie and Latta for their support of this bill, House Republican leadership for bringing it to the floor, and all of my colleagues who have offered their support. I urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 4626.

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