Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act

Floor Speech

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Mrs. DINGELL. Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong opposition to these partisan energy appliance bills.

Time and time again in this Congress, Republicans have brought and continue to bring partisan messaging bills to the floor that are just meant to rile up people and get their base upset while continuing to put off the work that the American people sent us here to do: to work together to really solve some of America's problems.

H.R. 6192 isn't the first anti-efficiency bill we have seen on the House floor. My Republican colleagues are obstructing the work that we have been sent here to do. We have a lot of serious problems, like reducing the cost of prescription drugs and helping everybody have access to healthcare.

The Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, along with the other anti- efficiency bills out there, like very serious bills--Liberty in Laundry Act, Refrigerator Freedom Act, Clothes Dryers Reliability Act--are just bills with names to get your attention, but all they do is delay and weaken popular energy efficiency programs, courting favors with polluters.

Unfortunately, they show that I have colleagues who don't want to save American consumers money on their energy bills. They keep peddling these blatant lies that the Biden administration is going after Americans' household appliances. They are not, nor did they try to take away our gas stoves last year. There is a lot of drama out there not based in truth.

I have a brand-new gas stove. Actually, it is a year old, and I have yet to use it. That is how often we get to cook. Nobody is going to take it away from me, and I bought it in the midst of that whole debate. Secretary Granholm has said that she owns a gas stove and that nobody is going to take it away from her.

The fear-mongering is nothing more than political--I don't know what word I want to use because I love my friends--but it is designed to scare consumers and is not based on facts.

The American people sent us here to work together in a bipartisan manner to find commonsense solutions, like working together to extend funding for the Affordable Connectivity Program that expires this month and helps millions of Americans have access to and afford broadband. We saw what happened during COVID when so many people didn't have access to the internet.

Instead of doing something that will help everyday working Americans, we are focused on partisan messaging bills. Instead of working on the real issues facing the American people, we are choosing, yet again, to waste our time debating appliances.

Mr. Chair, we need to stop playing games, and I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation.

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