Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the amendment offered by my friend, the gen tle lady from Tennessee. Like her, I also want to thank the appropriators.
As a member of the Budget Committee, our responsibility is to issue top-line numbers that we stay within in order to bring down the deficit and ultimately address the towering debt that we're facing as a country not only today, but the even worse debt we're going to be facing given the current trend that we're on in the future.
Mr. Chair, remember when we were told to keep our tires properly inflated and to get a regular tune-up to save fuel? Some people snickered and commented, ``Is this an energy policy?'' At least those ideas actually saved energy and actually saved cost, albeit a drop in the bucket. But now, in one of its latest efforts, along comes the Department of Energy and proposes a regulation to impose destructive and unnecessary energy-efficiency standards for ceiling fans. And like much of their agenda, it is completely counterproductive. It's another example of Big Government run amok. It's an example of the complete disregard bureaucrats have for the practical implications of the regulations that they issue.
The Department of Energy contends that a certain amount of energy would be saved by requiring greater efficiency from ceiling fans, as the gen tle lady mentioned and explained. Of course, that ignores the fact that ceiling fans are already far more energy efficient than other cooling devices like air-conditioners. Recently, General Electric published an article stating that an average electric central air-conditioner consumes 5,000 watts of electricity during operation. By contrast, a ceiling fan consumes as little as just 30 watts when operating under similar conditions. That's over 165 times less electricity than consumed by your typical central air-conditioning system.
The proposed ceiling fan regulations would increase the cost of ceiling fans and reduce the manufacturer's ability to produce aesthetically pleasing devices marketable to people like us, the consumers. As a result, energy savings from these efficiency standards would not outweigh the increased costs of energy consumption brought about by the consumers foregoing ceiling fans and shifting to high-energy consumption devices and increased usage of existing devices.
The Department of Energy's proposed regulations on ceiling fans are absolutely counterproductive. They will encourage more energy consumption, they will reduce consumer choice and they have the potential to destroy jobs, including in Indiana.
Americans need an energy policy to unleash our economy, not economically destructive dictates from Washington bureaucrats. This is yet another example of this administration double-dipping in the pockets of Americans, using taxpayer dollars to raise prices on consumers.
As such, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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