Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I say to Congressman Bilirakis and Congresswoman Cathy Rodgers that I consider them friends of mine, but I just don't quite understand the energy and hysteria about gas stoves.

No one is taking away your gas stove. I want to make that very clear. That is not the intention of this legislation.

I am the owner of a gas stove. I decided a long time ago that I really preferred gas stoves. I have a fairly new gas stove, but that doesn't mean that I don't want the very agency of government that I have worked with--and Congressman Pallone talked about its successes-- of saving people from hazards or reminding people or alerting people about hazards. That is all.

I own a new car. It is actually a Chevy Bolt. It is all electric, but like all the other cars that I have bought, I want to know about its safety history, all the things I could know. The other thing about a car, if something goes wrong, I think there is going to be a recall, so I will have an opportunity to deal with this.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission wants to take a look at what may be a hazard and if there are threats to our children's health, to our families, if it could cause real problems. Why don't we want to know about those? I think this legislation takes away the opportunity for us to find out about what may, in fact, be a hazard. It may require some changes in gas stoves and the way they are manufactured. Why wouldn't we want to know that rather than subject our families, our children, our communities to something that could harm them?

This prevents information. I say to my colleagues across the aisle: Get your head out of the gas stove and let's let the facts be told so that we can make decisions as smart adults to decide whether or not we want to buy them and whether or not we need to see some changes.

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chairman, I will say that there were a lot of things said that are really misinformation. No one is going to lose their gas stoves. This is not a plot to take that away.

I certainly encourage everyone to vote against this so that we can protect our children, we can have the Consumer Product Safety Commission alert us to problems that may occur, and to keep all of us safer. That is the point of this bill.

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment.

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chairman, this proposed amendment would expand the prohibition of using Federal dollars, Federal funds, to include any action--I want to repeat that, any action that would limit the ability of gas stoves based on the kind of fuel that it uses.

So if this amendment were to be adopted, it would absolutely endanger our children and all consumers.

For example, the negative health effects of lead are very well-known, particularly how lead might affect children. That is why we were able to phase lead out of gasoline in our cars, but this could open up the gate for manufacturers to actually use leaded gas to power a gas stove.

This amendment would then prohibit and prevent the Consumer Product Safety Commission--which is made to protect us and warn us--from giving us any kind of warning and stop the use of lead in a gas stove, and that would make no sense at all.

It is dangerous to block the Consumer Product Safety Commission from protecting American children from such hazards as lead. That is just one example. We simply cannot let these unfounded Republican attacks on the CPSC to disable us from having ourselves protected and from making sure that our children are going to be safe from hazards that are legitimately going to be warned.

So I absolutely urge this amendment to fail. It goes even far beyond the ridiculousness of the suggestion that as a result of the underlying bill we would come to homes and take away their gas stoves.

This would create a hazard. This would create a hazard, and this amendment should not be adopted.

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chair, I don't know how the gentlewoman got to children in mines from an amendment that says that any kind of addition to manufacturing a gas stove, including lead, which the gentlewoman did not respond to, would be a danger.

I oppose this amendment. I think it is very harmful. It has nothing to do with many of the scenarios that were just illuminated or not, and I think that it is very important that we vote down this very dangerous amendment.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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