[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 153 (Thursday, September 18, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H4447]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HIGH UTILITY RATES BY FOREIGN MONOPOLIES

  (Mr. RILEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RILEY. Mr. Speaker, utility bills are crushing upstate New 
Yorkers. I have seniors on fixed incomes who are cutting back on 
groceries and working parents who are cutting back on school clothes 
for their kids just to keep the lights on.
  Now the utility monopolies, which are owned by foreign corporations, 
are raising rates again. They are taking more and more money out of our 
pockets, and they are sending it to foreign corporations to pad their 
profits. They have been getting away with it for years because they 
work the refs, hire lobbyists, and grease the politicians with 
corporate PAC checks.
  When I say that the system is rigged against the working class and in 
favor of special interests, this is what I am talking about, and it 
ends today. My Keep the Lights Local Act will ban foreign corporations 
from owning our utilities.
  Upstate New Yorkers, who are already struggling to get by, shouldn't 
be forced to pay dividends to corporate executives sitting in board 
rooms halfway around the world.
  Keep the lights local. We are going to take our power back.

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