At last night's House Rules Committee hearing, Rep. James McGovern (R-MA) ripped the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 >> Madam Chair, and let me just say, I mean, we're hearing some discussion
00:04 about Secretary Granholm is obsessed with this and obsessed with that.
00:08 I think what they're obsessed with is finding ways to save the consumer's money
00:14 and saving them undue costs.
00:18 That's what this is all about.
00:19 These efficiency standards that have already been put into place,
00:23 Mr. Pallone pointed out, are going to save consumers billions and billions and billions
00:26 of dollars in the next several years.
00:31 So I, I mean, I would rather do that, save consumers money,
00:36 than merely pad the pockets of the fossil fuel industry.
00:40 But anyway, but thank you, Mr. Pallone, and thank you, Mr. Duncan, for being here,
00:44 and for the sake of moving things along.
00:45 I'm not going to repeat what I said in my opening statement, but it just seems
00:49 like Republicans think energy efficiency is a bad thing,
00:55 which is at odds with what the vast majority of Americans think.
00:59 But putting that aside, Mr. Duncan, are you aware that this bill was noticed
01:03 to come before the Rules Committee two weeks ago?
01:05 >> Could you repeat that?
01:08 >> Are you aware that this bill that we're now talking about was noticed
01:12 to come before the Rules Committee two weeks ago?
01:14 >> I'm not.
01:14 That's above my pay grade, sir.
01:17 >> Well, it was.
01:18 And are you also aware that the committee planned to bring
01:22 up four other appliance-related bills at the time, in addition to the one
01:26 that we're currently considering?
01:28 >> I'm fine with that, and wish they would bring them all up.
01:31 >> Okay.
01:31 >> Because there is a war on the American consumer.
01:34 >> I guess my question to you is why the change?
01:36 I mean, you're here on behalf of the House leadership to talk about this appliance,
01:40 why this appliance bill should come to the floor.
01:43 Can you explain to us why the four other appliance bills are not being considered again,
01:49 but this one is?
01:51 >> Again, that's a question for leadership.
01:52 That's above my pay grade.
01:54 I'm a lowly subcommittee chairman on energy, but I will say this bill came
01:58 through regular order through subcommittee and full committee after hearing Samarkand.
02:02 >> Are you aware what the titles of the other bills were
02:06 that were supposed to come before this committee?
02:09 >> Again, I'm not.
02:10 >> Let me read you the titles.
02:13 One of them was the Liberty in Laundry Act.
02:17 Another was the Refrigerator Freedom Act.
02:21 And here's why I think we're not considering those bills,
02:23 because I think they're an embarrassment to this institution.
02:27 I mean, it seems to me Republican leadership probably realized the irony of bringing up a bill
02:32 about freedom for refrigerators while simultaneously taking freedom away from millions
02:38 of women in this country by overturning Roe versus Wade.
02:43 And maybe they realized it was a bad look to talk about liberty
02:46 in laundry while simultaneously trying to take away liberty for people who want to use IVF.
02:54 And I would just say that when we use words like freedom and liberty,
03:01 this is the United States Congress.
03:03 These are words that are written into our founding documents,
03:07 ideas Americans have fought and died for.
03:11 In Ukraine right now, soldiers and civilians are being killed because they are standing
03:15 up for these very principles.
03:18 And when your side throws those words around and talks
03:22 about refrigerator freedom, it cheapens them.
03:27 And it degrades those words, and it degrades this institution.
03:31 So I'm glad that Republicans realized how silly and frivolous these bills are,
03:37 and that they pulled them from today's hearing.
03:42 I'm not sure that they are banned, that they will be pulled forever.
03:47 But I'm going to take that as a semi-positive sign because, I mean, it was laughable.
03:53 Given all that is happening in this country and all that is happening in this world,
03:56 that the bills that contain the words freedom and liberty are about household appliances.
04:04 I mean, we have to start getting serious around here about what is important and what is not.
04:10 And again, you know, bills that are aimed at trying to save consumers money,
04:16 trying to promote energy efficiency, yes, trying to wean us off of fossil fuels.
04:21 I mean, I think we can have a debate on that.
04:24 But to use words like freedom and liberty with regard to refrigerators and washing machines,
04:32 I just think is an embarrassment.
04:34 And I don't have any questions.
04:37 Yeah, I yield to Mr. Pallone.
04:40 >> Well, let me just say I totally agree with you.
04:43 In fact, when I saw those labels for the bills in the committee, I was wondering if maybe,
04:48 you know, somebody had substituted them for the real thing.
04:52 I was kind of surprised that the Republicans themselves used those labels
04:55 for the bills, to be perfectly honest.
04:57 But I just wanted to say quickly two things you raised.
05:00 One is the whole issue of affordability.
05:02 And, you know, I really believe that in our committee, we have highlighted affordability,
05:07 not only for, you know, to make, save costs on appliances, but also on things
05:14 like the Affordable Connectivity Fund to help people pay for their internet,
05:19 to subsidize and help people pay for their healthcare.
05:23 I mean, the list goes on and on.
05:24 And that's been a hallmark, I think, of the Democrats' initiative in our committee.
05:29 So I appreciate you bringing up the whole issue of affordability,
05:32 because that's what we're all about as Democrats.
05:34 And then the last thing I wanted to say is, you know, one of the things that was quite clear
05:38 when the Secretary of Energy came before us last week, I believe,
05:42 was that this administration believes in all of the above energy policy, right?
05:48 This Mr. Duncan, Chairman Duncan and Chairman Verges talked about the war on fossil fuels.
05:53 More oil, more natural gas is being produced now with this administration
05:58 than any time before.
06:00 We just passed, came through this committee to a nuclear package
06:03 to try to expand the use of nuclear power.
06:06 Now, not everybody agrees with that.
06:08 The fact of the matter is, we're increasing everything, right?
06:11 But we also prioritize trying to move towards renewables, because we think that we need
06:17 to move towards renewables, because the day of fossil fuels is, you know, at some point,
06:23 there aren't going to be any fossil fuels around anymore.
06:25 And they continue to contribute to climate change and increased greenhouse gases.
06:30 So we want to prioritize renewables.
06:32 But by no means did the Secretary suggest anything other than an all of above policy.
06:37 So this idea of a war on energy is just nonsense, frankly.
06:42 So I yield back.
06:43 >> No, and I thank you.
06:45 And again, as I said in my opening statement, you know, energy efficiency is not a bad thing.
06:51 Saving consumers money is not a bad thing.
06:54 You know, only, you know, in a Congress that is run by Republicans,
06:58 are those things considered undesirable.
07:02 And again, I would just end by again repeating that whoever is coming up with your agenda,
07:08 freedom for refrigerators and liberty in laundry, I'd be reminded
07:13 that this is the United States Congress.
07:15 It's not Saturday Night Live.
07:16 This is supposed to be a serious place, and it's about time we acted like it.