Jeff Duncan Promotes Bill To Push Back On Biden Administration 'Waging War On Our Home Appliances'

4 months ago

During a House Rules Committee hearing on Monday, Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) spoke about Biden's Department of Energy regulations on household appliances.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Chairman Burgess, and congratulations on taking the gavel. It's a well-deserved

00:04honor. And I want to thank you and Ranking Member McGovern for recognizing me to speak

00:08in support of Congresswoman Lesko's bill, H.R. 6192, the Hands Off Our Home Appliances

00:14Act, which will help stop the Biden administration's war on Americans' home appliances. This bill

00:20is considered today with reform, will reform, the Department of Energy's appliance and equipment

00:25standards setting process and protect several commonly used home appliances, including dishwashers,

00:31air conditioners, refrigerators, clothes dryers, and washing machines. H.R. 6192 has gone through

00:37regular order. That means it's gone through the committee process.

00:41Through hearings and markups in the Energy and Commerce Committee, it's become clear

00:45that Congress must act to prevent the Biden administration from banning natural gas appliances

00:49and eliminating product features that the American people rely on. Through sue and settlement

00:55agreements with the environmental groups, the DOE has aggressively and has aggressive

01:00plans to regulate the sale of more than 60 categories of appliances and equipment. The

01:06DOE may ban and restrict access to thousands of household products that Americans can purchase

01:10today to heat our homes, prepare our meals, and wash our clothes.

01:15The DOE's appliance standards program is big government on steroids. The Biden administration

01:21and Democrats want to tell you what type of car to drive, how much water you can use

01:25in your shower, and how to cook your food. My constituents, like many Americans, were

01:30shocked to learn that the Department of Energy could abuse its authority to ban gas stoves.

01:35Thankfully, Congress came together, and we passed legislation to overturn the gas stove

01:40ban with a strong bipartisan vote last year.

01:43There's plenty of precedent for Congress to step in. In recent years, Congress has passed

01:48laws to clarify DOE's authorities to regulate light bulbs, ceiling fans, refrigerators,

01:53air conditioners, heat pumps, water heaters, furnaces, dishwashers, and the list goes on

01:58and on and on. The fact that Congress has to step in so many times over the years demonstrates

02:04that the efficiency standard-setting process is fundamentally broken, and it's no longer

02:08serving the interests of the American people.

02:11H.R. 6192, the Hands Off Our Appliances Act, will fix this fundamentally broken standard-setting

02:18process. The legislation will clarify DOE's authority to regulate, and it will prohibit

02:24standards that are not cost-effective or technologically feasible. This bill will ensure that DOE conducts

02:31a true costbenefit analysis and considers the harmful impact that cost increases will

02:36have on the lowincome households, on renters, and those struggling to afford a new home

02:41and the appliances that come in it. H.R. 6192 will also ensure that if an appliance with

02:47an efficiency upgrade costs more money up front, then American consumers will actually

02:52save a significant amount of energy, enough to pay back the cost of that increase within

02:57three years.

02:58Finally, H.R. 6192 will prohibit the DOE from banning natural gas appliances and taking

03:04away product and performance features that we rely upon as Americans. These reforms are

03:09necessary to protect the affordability and reliability of home appliances and prevent

03:14the DOE from abusing its statutory authority.

03:18It's imperative that Congress act now to reform the DOE Appliance Standard Program. The Department

03:23of Energy just issued a series of proposed and finalized rules that exceed the DOE's

03:28statutory authority. In recent months, the DOE has announced plans to impose burdensome

03:33new regulations that will raise the price and reduce the performance of dishwashers,

03:38air conditioners, refrigerators, clothes dryers, and washing machines. The DOE has failed to

03:43demonstrate the need for these new regulations, and it's failed to show that they are cost

03:47effective and technologically feasible.

03:50Now, I think it's imperative to get in the record what the Secretary of Energy said just

03:55last week. Secretary Granholm said in our budget hearing last week, quote, we are obsessed

04:01with reducing the amount of energy Americans use. But I would ask at what cost? Congress

04:07must act to stop the Biden administration and the DOE from waging war on our home appliances.

04:13With the cost of everything increasing as a result of runaway inflation caused by the

04:17Biden administration's reckless spending policies, the last thing the DOE should be doing is

04:22making home appliances that Americans rely on every day even more expensive.

04:28The proposed ban on gas stoves was a wakeup call. The Biden administration should put

04:33affordability and reliability above the interest of the radical climate lobby. These bills

04:39in front of us today do just that, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to

04:43join me in sending another strong message to the Biden administration to keep their

04:47hands off our home appliances. It's common sense. And I look forward to answering your

04:52questions. I yield back.

Jeff Duncan Promotes Bill To Push Back On Biden Administration 'Waging War On Our Home Appliances'

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