Homeowner Energy Freedom Act

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, House Republicans simply cannot help themselves. It is bad enough that they refuse to do anything to address the affordability crisis that American families are facing today. Republicans are doubling down on bills that will drive up energy costs for families when they are simply being stretched too thin.

Yesterday, we were here on the House floor debating a bill that guts appliance efficiency standards which save families money on their power bills. Today, we are back to debate the gutting of another popular program that lowers upfront appliance prices.

Mr. Speaker, this is the seventh bill about appliances that we have debated on the House floor this past year. When I am back home in New Jersey talking to my constituents, no one ever brings up showerhead flow or how much water their dishwasher uses.

These folks want to know how we can put a stop to Trump's disastrous tariffs which are a tax on the American people and which raise the price of absolutely everything we buy.

They want to know what Congress is doing to lower their skyrocketing healthcare premiums. They want to know why Congress is asleep at the wheel, while they struggle to make ends meet, watch their power bills go up every month, and have to start making impossible choices between paying for medicine or keeping their lights on.

Sorry, folks, apparently Republicans in Washington don't have time for any of that. They are focused on passing another appliance bill instead--talk about out of touch. This bill repeals and rescinds funding for three important Department of Energy programs.

First, it rescinds funding from the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebate program. This is a $4.5 billion program created by Democrats as part of the Inflation Reduction Act to lower the upfront costs of appliance upgrades for low- and moderate- income families. The families get a rebate. It helps families better afford appliances for their homes. With this bill, House Republicans are eliminating the funding for the rebate. Again, they are driving up costs on American families.

The second thing this bill does is to rescind funding from a program designed to help with building energy code adoption. That might sound a little obscure, but it is also important from a cost point of view.

Third, they repeal a program that provides assistance for contractor training. Even these two programs that might seem less important than the rebate are still programs that reduce costs for consumers.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot stress it enough. This bill only worsens the affordability crisis for American families. Trump promised to cut Americans' power bills in half during his first year. That didn't happen. In fact, electricity prices are up 15 percent and increasing twice as fast as inflation just since Trump took office.

More than 80 million Americans are struggling to pay their utility bills. Even though these price increases are a direct result of Republican policies, today House Republicans are choosing to double down. Rather than working on constructive solutions that help Americans, they are choosing to cut funding that helps homeowners and businesses save money.

There is a reason why electrification rebates are popular. Again, these are rebates that help people. Some States have already rolled out their rebate programs and are seeing significant interest.

Despite how Republicans try to frame them, rebates are not mandates. Rebates are optional, and they provide discounts to families who have crunched the numbers and made the decision that electrification would help them save money. Republicans want to take away that choice at a time of skyrocketing energy costs and energy demand.

I strongly urge my colleagues to vote against this bill. The programs that this bill targets are designed to lower costs, create jobs, and help Americans across the country. I only wish that Republicans cared more about that than wasting floor time with ridiculous antiefficiency and anticonsumer bills.

Mr. Speaker, I will debunk some comments that were made by my colleague from Texas.

Both of the speakers on the other side of the aisle repeatedly cited the National Association of Home Builders' estimate that building a home to meet the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code standard would add as much as $31,000 in costs to a new home.

This is flawed. It is intentionally misleading. Republicans are trying to demonize energy codes that actually save Americans money and deliver increased comfort, health, and climate benefits, all to prop up their fossil fuel buddies.

This figure of $31,000 originally came from Kansas City. When you actually analyze the cost breakdown, it includes costs that are not required by the 2021 energy code.

For example, the costs include over $18,000 for double-wall construction, but the code doesn't require double-wall construction.

It includes $3,000 for a ventilation energy package. The code does not require this package. It only requires one of several energy options, like energy-saving water heaters.

Mr. Speaker, I could go on debunking these claims, but hopefully you get the point that this fictitious figure is just meant to mislead the public about energy building costs.

Castor), the ranking member of our Energy Subcommittee.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

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Mr. PALLONE. DeLauro), the ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Last night, the President finally admitted that the American public is concerned about the price increases. If you care about affordability, why would you repeal a rebate program that helps Americans with their electricity bills, which is exactly what this bill unfortunately does? It repeals the rebate.

That rebate is at the point of sale. When you go out and buy an appliance or a heat pump or something, you actually get a discount on the sale price. That is the rebate, at the point of sale.

This bill targets this very popular electrification rebate program, a program that is already active in 12 States plus the District of Colombia. Those States include North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, and Indiana. All but two States in the country have applied for the program funding.

What they are essentially doing is eliminating this rebate program, which is clearly popular, in the very middle of it, while Americans are taking advantage of it.

I think it is disingenuous to portray this as some kind of red State or blue State program. It is popular across the board amongst Republicans and Democrats.

With this bill, House Republicans are voting to rip funding away from 12 States that have active programs and against the interests of 46 total States who have applied for the program and are about to put it in the process.

At full deployment, the rebate program is expected to deliver $275 million in annual energy savings with participating families projected to save about $1,000 a year, and the installation of these appliances is projected to support 23,000 jobs.

Why are you eliminating a program like this that puts money back into Americans' pockets when they are concerned about affordability?

To date, electrification rebates have served 16,000 homes and resulted in $7.6 million in annual savings. This is across only the 13 active programs that I mentioned.

These programs are all designed in unique ways to meet States' needs in local context, and obviously Americans are interested.

If Republicans are successful in repealing this rebate program, they are not just scrapping some hypothetical program. They are removing real dollars from real States, real people, including the States that they represent.

Again, we have this affordability crisis. Why eliminate a rebate that puts money back in Americans' pockets?

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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