Pallone Blasts Republican Bill to Gut Dishwasher Efficiency Standards and Raise Americans’ Energy Bills

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) delivered the following remarks as prepared for delivery today on the House floor in opposition to H.R. 7700, a Republican bill that blocks popular efficiency standards for dishwashers, raising Americans’ energy bills:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. 

Mr. Speaker, today’s debate demonstrates why House Republicans simply cannot govern. This bill, H.R. 7700, the Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act, doesn’t need to be brought up today because House Republicans already passed it two months ago as part of another, larger bill. In other words, today’s debate is a waste of our time. It’s clearly being brought up because Republicans simply don’t have any other bills to bring to the floor. They are fresh out of ideas that can meet the approval of the extreme elements in their party.  

At a time when the American people want us to work together to build on the progress we’ve made to grow our economy for the future and lower everyday costs for American families, the House Republican majority is wanting to have another debate about protecting dishwashers, even though this legislation will increase home energy bills on American families.

This legislation would gut popular energy efficiency standards for dishwashers. Energy efficiency standards are popular for three key reasons. They save Americans money on their energy bills, boost innovation by modernizing appliances for the future, and reduce greenhouse gas pollution in our ongoing efforts to combat the climate crisis.  

The Biden Administration’s past and planned energy efficiency actions will save Americans $1 trillion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2.5 billion metric tons over the next 30 years.  

This is something that we should all be able to support – after all energy efficiency used to be a bipartisan issue, but not anymore. Extreme Republicans have decided that they’d rather do the bidding of corporate polluters as they continue to move forward with their polluters over people agenda.  

H.R. 7700 attacks a popular and effective Department of Energy (DOE) program that saves Americans money by setting efficiency standards on household appliances. H.R. 7700 adds burdensome and duplicative language to DOE’s process, without defining any of its vague metrics.  This bill completely ignores the mechanisms and practices that already exist at DOE. And worst of all, it gravely threatens DOE’s ability to implement and enforce the already-finalized dishwasher standard. 

In pushing this legislation, Republicans ignore the fact that DOE already must ensure that the standards are economically justifiable, technologically feasible, and result in energy savings. In fact, the process works so well, that the dishwasher standard targeted by this bill was actually the result of a consensus agreement between industry, efficiency advocates, and consumer advocates.  

If you look at the details of the dishwasher efficiency standard, you’ll understand why there is so much support for it. The standard hasn’t been updated in over a decade, and the new rules are expected to save Americans over $3 billion on utility bills over 30 years. That’s real savings – and the standards are attainable. Dishwashers that meet the new standard are already on the market, and it doesn’t even go into effect until 2027. It’s clear that the appliance manufacturing industry doesn’t feel burdened by the new standards, and therefore one has to question why Republicans continue to fight against these commonsense standards.  

H.R. 7700, along with the next bill we’re debating, would not just impact DOE’s ability to implement the recently finalized standards, it would also effectively overturn them. These absurd bills include a provision which prohibits DOE from enforcing new or existing standards if they increase costs by even a penny, completely disregarding the massive consumer savings on future monthly home energy bills. This simply defies logic, but again it is designed to protect the interests of Republicans’ oil and gas friends. H.R. 7700 will create market uncertainty and threaten real savings for Americans. 

Mr. Speaker, I oppose this legislation because it will increase home energy costs for American families and undermine our ongoing efforts to combat the worsening climate crisis. I urge all my colleagues to oppose this bill and I reserve the balance of my time.  

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