[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 213 (Wednesday, December 17, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H6000-H6004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RELIABLE POWER ACT
Mr. WEBER of Texas. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 951,
I call up the bill (H.R. 3616) to require the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission to review regulations that may affect the reliable operation
of the bulk-power system, and ask for its immediate consideration in
the House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 951, the
amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on
Energy and Commerce, printed in the bill, is adopted, and the bill, as
amended, is considered read.
The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows:
H.R. 3616
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Reliable Power Act''.
SEC. 2. COMMISSION REVIEW AND COMMENT FOR COVERED AGENCY
ACTIONS.
Section 215 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824o) is
amended--
(1) in subsection (g)--
(A) by striking ``The ERO'' and inserting the following:
``(1) In general.--The ERO''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Annual long-term assessment.--The assessments under
paragraph (1) shall include an annual long-term assessment,
which shall include--
``(A) an analysis of the ability of the bulk-power system
to supply sufficient electric energy necessary to maintain an
adequate level of reliability, taking into account generation
resource mix, transmission development, and electric energy
demand trends;
``(B) an analysis of the risk of future electric energy
supply shortfalls under normal and extreme weather
conditions, and the risk of any such shortfalls within each
region of the bulk-power system; and
``(C) a determination of whether additional generation
resources are necessary to supply sufficient electric energy
to maintain an adequate level of reliability during the
assessment period.
``(3) Notice of generation inadequacy.--In conducting a
long-term assessment under paragraph (2), if the ERO finds
that the bulk-power system is at risk of not having adequate
generation resources to supply sufficient electric energy to
maintain an adequate level of reliability, the ERO shall
publicly notify the Commission that the bulk-power system is
in a state of generation inadequacy.
``(4) Data collection.--To conduct a long-term assessment
under paragraph (2), the ERO may collect information and data
from users, owners, and operators of the bulk-power
system.'';
(2) by redesignating subsections (h) through (k) as
subsections (i) through (l), respectively; and
(3) by inserting after subsection (g) the following:
``(h) Commission Review and Comment for Covered Agency
Actions.--
``(1) Notice to federal agencies.--If the ERO notifies the
Commission under subsection (g)(3) that the bulk-power system
is in a state of generation inadequacy, the Commission shall
promptly notify the Department of Energy, the Environmental
Protection Agency, and any other Federal agency the
Commission determines appropriate of such state of generation
inadequacy.
``(2) Submission.--Upon receiving notice under paragraph
(1), the head of each Federal agency that received such
notice shall provide to the Commission for review and comment
any covered agency action by the Federal agency--
``(A) on the first date on which such covered agency action
is provided to the Office of Management and Budget or any
other Federal agency for review and comment; or
``(B) if such covered agency action is not provided to the
Office of Management and Budget or any other Federal agency
for review and comment, not later than 90 days before the
date on which the covered agency action is published in the
Federal Register or is otherwise made available for public
inspection or comment.
``(3) Commission comments.--The Commission, in consultation
with the ERO and transmission organizations, shall, by order,
provide to the agency head that provided to the Commission a
covered agency action under paragraph (2)--
``(A) comments on such covered agency action, which such
comments may include an assessment of the effect of the
covered agency action on rates, terms, and conditions for
services pursuant to the authority of the Commission under
sections 201 and 206; and
``(B) if applicable, recommendations for modifications to
the covered agency action to prevent a significant negative
impact on the ability of the bulk-power system to supply
sufficient electric energy necessary to maintain an adequate
level of reliability.
``(4) Agency response.--The head of a Federal agency may
not finalize a covered agency action that is provided to the
Commission under paragraph (2) until--
``(A) the agency head responds in writing to the Commission
with an explanation of how the agency head modified, or why
the agency head determined not to modify, such covered agency
action in response to any comments and recommendations
provided by the Commission under paragraph (3); and
``(B) the Commission finds that the covered agency action
will not be likely to have a significant negative impact on
the ability of the bulk-power system to supply sufficient
electric energy necessary to maintain an adequate level of
reliability.
``(5) Public availability of comments and responses.--An
agency head shall include any comments, recommendations, and
responses for the covered agency action when--
``(A) submitting the covered agency action to the Federal
Register for publication; or
``(B) otherwise making the covered agency action available
for public inspection or comment.
``(6) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Covered agency action.--The term `covered agency
action' means a regulation that--
``(i) relates to, or otherwise directly affects, any
generation resource in the bulk-power system; and
``(ii) is under development to be proposed or otherwise
under consideration in a rulemaking prior to finalization on
the date on which the Federal agency receives notice from the
Commission under paragraph (1).
``(B) Federal agency.--The term `Federal agency' means an
Executive department (as that term is defined in section 101
of title 5, United States Code) or any other Executive agency
that is in the President's cabinet.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill, as amended, shall be debatable for
1 hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority
member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective
designees.
The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber) and the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Pallone) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber).
{time} 1600
General Leave
Mr. WEBER of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on H.R. 3616.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. WEBER of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3616, the Reliable Power
Act, sponsored by my colleague from Ohio's 12th Congressional District,
Mr. Troy Balderson.
Put simply, this bill protects reliability that is critical to the
economy as well as public health.
The bill protects the public from future Federal rules that would
force the premature retirement of power generation that is absolutely
essential to keeping our grid reliable.
Madam Speaker, our Nation today is confronting a reliability crisis.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which is the
Nation's electric reliability organization, shows vast regions of our
Nation are at risk for blackouts when weather events and peak demand
collide. It is only going to get worse.
The Energy and Commerce Committee has repeatedly heard from grid
authorities about the massive number of premature retirements of
baseload power in our very own electric system.
[[Page H6001]]
These retirements take much-needed energy out of the grid system
without adequate replacement of the types of baseload power needed to
maintain reliability.
The numbers are staggering, Madam Speaker. Over the next decade,
115GW of power is expected to come offline while 151GW of demand is
needed to come online. Do that math.
For too long, radical green activists in the Obama and Biden
administrations were able to hijack environmental agencies with no
authority over the grid to force shutdowns of power plants without
regard to the impacts on that very reliability I said we depend on.
Madam Speaker, if the Biden EPA's radical clean power plan 2.0 had
gone forward, it would have shut down most of the Nation's coal-fired
power and threatened the closing of a substantial number of existing
gas generation plants to disastrous effect.
We cannot--we must not--let Federal agencies with no authority over
electric reliability undermine that very vital electric service.
Congress already established the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
as the reliability authority, but when FERC is needed most, there is no
requirement that its expert views should be accommodated. This bill
fixes that. Let me repeat: This bill fixes that.
During periods of increased reliability risks, FERC, informed by the
technical expertise of grid operators and NERC, can require changes
before a rule can be finalized. FERC will not stop agencies from
pursuing their policy responsibilities effectively. It just protects
reliable power.
The legislation is necessary to provide a mechanism to adjust Federal
rules to ensure they protect electric reliability, which is so
essential, Mr. Speaker, to the economy, our public health, and, yes,
our safety.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3616, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 3616, yet another
Republican bill that puts large corporate polluters over people. At a
time when American families are struggling with rising monthly energy
bills, this legislation does nothing to address the affordability
crisis.
Electricity prices continue to go up. They have increased by 13
percent just since President Trump took office, and they are about to
get worse as the Republicans' big, ugly bill is expected to increase
those prices another 61 percent.
You would think Republicans would want to do something to address the
affordability crisis, but this is just more of the same from them. They
refuse to address healthcare affordability, and this afternoon, they
continue to ignore the crisis with regard to electricity.
I guess we shouldn't be surprised. After all, they just blindly
follow President Trump, who simply does not care. He does not believe
the affordability crisis is real. In fact, he recently said:
``Affordability is a Democrat scam.'' That is what he actually said.
The President should tell that to the hardworking families who are
facing skyrocketing prices across the board. It is a crisis, and
Republicans are simply ignoring it.
This bill is basically a thinly veiled attempt by Republicans to
obstruct any future administration's EPA regulations that keep our air,
lands, and water clean. This bill would allow the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, or FERC, to block any regulation from any other
agency under certain circumstances. It takes what should be an
apolitical process, a neutral review of the reliability of our Nation's
electric sector, and twists it into a fully partisan exercise. That is
why we should reject this bill entirely.
Right now, a number of Federal agencies have authorities that could
impact the power sector. FERC and the Department of Energy have the
ability to comment on those regulations if they have concerns and work
through the interagency review process to ensure that those concerns
are heard.
FERC Commissioners in recent years have not been shy about using
their powers to publicly highlight and comment on Federal actions that
they deem flawed or insufficient. Agencies can, and do, respond to that
feedback, as we saw with the EPA during the previous administration.
What no agency has the power to do now is to arbitrarily block
another agency's regulations that Congress gave that agency the power
to make. That is simply ridiculous.
If Republicans have their way, agencies would not only have to seek
review from the Office of Management and Budget but will also have to
ask permission from FERC to see if FERC likes the regulation or not. If
not, even if the White House likes the regulation, the agency can't
finalize it.
If that is not bad enough, FERC testified before the Energy and
Commerce Committee that it does not even have the capacity and
expertise necessary to investigate every other agency's regulation for
the impacts that they will have on electric reliability. That was
before the staff attrition that has hit FERC over the past 10 months.
The agency has lost over 11 percent of its staff through September.
Who knows how many additional staff have left over the last 3 months
because you know that the President is wanting to fire everybody.
Let me just review this, again, because I don't want to be too
bureaucratic here, Mr. Speaker. House Republicans want FERC to do
something it has no ability to do, that would politicize our Nation's
electric reliability regulator, and that would make FERC into a super-
authority with powers rivaling those of certain White House offices.
This is all to kill regulations that keep our air clean and our water
drinkable. That is what this is all about. Let's not pretend that House
Republicans are worried about regulations coming from the Trump
administration. They knew those regulations were all going to destroy
whatever clean air or clean water we have.
Instead, they are worried about the next time we have a President who
actually cares about protecting public health and the environment, a
President who wants to restore the bedrock environmental laws that the
Republicans have gotten rid of.
Republicans then want to use this bill as a shield to protect
polluters. If the polluter now, under a new President, isn't going to
have the protection, and the public is going to have the protection to
make sure that the water and the air are clean, then they want to make
sure they have some shield to protect the polluters.
We shouldn't let them do that. That is not what we are supposed to
do. We are supposed to worry about the public.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no,'' and I reserve the
balance of my time.
Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from Georgia (Mr. Allen).
Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Texas for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3616, the Reliable Power
Act, of which I am a proud cosponsor.
My home State of Georgia has been named the number one State to do
business in for 12 consecutive years, making it a popular destination
for new manufacturing facilities and data centers. While I join
Georgians in welcoming these economic drivers to our State, it also
presents increased demand for our grid that we must address.
We know electricity demand is expected to grow significantly over the
next several years, which means this body has a duty to ensure our
constituents have a dependable grid that meets the needs of hardworking
families.
{time} 1610
Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, both the Obama and Biden-Harris
administrations were guilty of using the EPA to promote radical policy
designed to drive out baseload generation in favor of wind and solar,
which simply cannot assure adequate grid reliability. It increases the
risk of rolling blackouts.
H.R. 3616 will correct that very problem by improving Federal
rulemaking to ensure that future regulations impacting power generation
will not harm electricity reliability, especially in already vulnerable
regions.
Under this bill, if FERC finds that a proposed rule will have a
significant impact on reliability, the rule cannot be finalized. That
is about as commonsense as it gets.
Mr. Speaker, the United States has an abundant energy supply. The
question we must ask ourselves is not if we
[[Page H6002]]
have enough energy resources but can we produce energy at the necessary
levels to meet the growing demand? The Reliable Power Act will help us
do just that, and I urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 3616.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor), the ranking member of our
Subcommittee on Energy.
Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Pallone
for yielding the time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3616. It is another
Republican bill that fails to address skyrocketing electric bills that
are a part of the overall affordability squeeze that is gripping the
country right now.
What should we be doing on the floor of the House right now?
We should bring up the discharge petition to make sure that
healthcare costs don't skyrocket for 20 million Americans and 4.7
million Floridians back home in the Sunshine State.
Now that the discharge petition has the necessary number of votes to
come to the floor and extend those lifesaving and cost-saving ACA tax
credits, we should be doing that instead. That would have a real
impact. That would send a great sign to folks back home who are
struggling with the rising cost of living and are wondering how they
will pay for their health coverage next year. That would really help
our neighbors back home. Alas, we are not doing that.
At a time when prices are up, inflation is up, and despite the
Republican promises to do something about it, all of their bills and
their policies are making it worse and making life even more expensive.
Household electricity prices are up across America by about 13 percent
and a lot higher in some places.
Why is that the case? First of all, the big, ugly bill that
Republicans passed in July to provide tax breaks to the wealthy and
well-connected took away tax credits to keep cleaner, cheaper energy
producing across America. They ripped away rebates for households to
help them afford the cost of upgrading their homes, making their lives
more energy efficient.
Also, these arbitrary Trump tariffs are at the highest levels since
the 1930s. We see it in our grocery bills, but it is also impacting
electricity costs. Costs are way up for poles and wires and things that
we import for our electricity systems. Those are being passed along to
consumers.
The Trump administration has canceled hundreds of projects across
America, some that were permitted and approved, ready to bring cleaner
and cheaper energy onto the grid to help keep electricity prices lower.
All of that is a recipe for skyrocketing electricity bills.
What do Republicans in Congress do? They keep bringing these random
bills to the floor to boost the profits of polluters. This bill is a
good example of that.
This bill would elevate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
above any other Federal agency, give it unprecedented veto power, and
transform it and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation
into political actors. That is a world away from the independent
agencies that they are now where they act in the public interest and
not in the interest of polluters.
Mr. Speaker, FERC doesn't even want this power. They lack the
capacity and the staff for this highly technical work.
When we discussed this bill 2 years ago, David Ortiz, then FERC's
Director of the Office of Electric Reliability, testified before the
Energy and Commerce Committee that FERC couldn't execute on the bill
because FERC does not have the capacity to assume other agencies'
expertise. That was before FERC lost 11 percent of its staff--
hardworking public servants--due to resignations and layoffs under the
Trump administration.
This bill doesn't do anything to provide FERC with the staff or
funding they would need to implement the bill. No, it doesn't.
Polluters simply want to short-circuit any oversight of their higher
costs and pollution. That is what this is about.
FERC already has the power to intervene and comment on agency
rulemaking dockets if they think there could be a reliability issue, as
does NERC, as does any of the grid operators, and any utility. This
polluter-friendly bill is a way to sabotage cleaner and cheaper energy,
however, and energy storage. It is a recipe for higher costs and
electric bills for American families.
Regional grid operators have the necessary expertise and staffing to
maintain reliability on their grids already. Regional operators know
that there are cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy sources
available, not just expensive coal and gas.
There are modern grid solutions that the committee has refused to
take up this year. That is another reason electric bills are so high.
There are solutions like energy storage, demand response, grid-
enhancing technologies, and regional and interregional coordination
that can provide reliability at a lower price with less pollution.
Republicans also don't want us to know that, while this bill gives
FERC more responsibilities that it cannot meet and does not want, the
Trump administration has been busy gutting the agencies that are
already working to ensure that we have a reliable grid.
For example, the Trump Department of Energy eliminated the Grid
Deployment Office last month. That was an office created under the
bipartisan infrastructure law to manage important and cost-saving
investments to make our grid more reliable. Over $3 billion in grid
deployment investments were cut in October.
The real Republican mantra should be a less reliable grid with higher
costs because that is what this year has produced. Republican energy
policy is creating a less reliable environment for businesses, making
it harder for companies to invest in America.
Just yesterday, Ford announced they were laying off all 1,600
employees at their battery manufacturing plant in Glendale, Kentucky.
In October, on top of the grid modernization cuts at the Department of
Energy, DOE canceled 321 awards, totaling $8 billion in funding. The
largest award was $316 million to support the manufacture of components
from recycled EV batteries in Kentucky. That would have helped us
compete with Chinese batteries.
Mr. Speaker, $197 million was supposed to help a plant in St. Louis
producing 30,000 metric tons annually of critical minerals products.
Mr. Speaker, $117 million was intended to support production of
synthetic graphite, including construction of a large plant in Alabama.
Also, $31 million was cut that was going to build an advanced glass
factory at the site of an old coal plant in Detroit.
As a result, the United States will have less capacity to support
real and reliable power. This bill does not solve problems. It doesn't
tackle the affordability crisis. It makes it worse. It doesn't even
support more reliable power. Republicans are just trying to slap a new
permitting reform label on bad ideas that they have never been able to
pass into law.
Here we are, the last week in session this year, Mr. Speaker, and
Republicans have not brought a single bill to the floor of the House
that would lower costs for hardworking families. They have no new ideas
here. They have no ideas on how to make energy more affordable for
everyday Americans and no ideas to help us out of this healthcare
crisis.
Mr. Speaker, people really deserve better. They deserve better over
the holidays, and they deserve better from this Congress. I urge my
colleagues to vote against the bill.
Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from Ohio (Mr. Balderson), the author of this bill.
{time} 1620
Mr. BALDERSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank Vice Chair Weber for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, America's electric grid is facing a reliability crisis,
one created by heavyhanded Federal rulemakings that prioritize politics
and ignore the realities of power generation and the needs of American
families. That is why I rise today in support of my bill, the Reliable
Power Act.
Under the Biden administration, Federal agencies pushed out rapid-
fire climate rules and mandates with little coordination and even less
accountability. Instead of listening to grid operators, they raced to
advance extreme policies that threaten our most dependable power
sources with the American people paying the price.
[[Page H6003]]
The Reliable Power Act puts an end to this by preventing Federal
rules from moving forward if they threaten the ability of the grid to
keep the lights on. This legislation ensures proper coordination
between FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Federal
agencies proposing regulations that could affect the power generation
and grid reliability.
It strengthens Federal accountability, streamlines communication, and
puts in place commonsense guardrails needed to protect the bulk of the
power system.
Since introducing this bill in the spring, I have heard from energy
leaders across Ohio--energy co-ops, utilities, manufacturers, and grid
operators--who all say the same thing: Regulatory chaos driven by
climate activists is putting grid reliability at risk and driving up
costs.
Just look at this map I have with me today. You can see for yourself
how shortsighted policies can drive up electricity costs from one State
to the next. When Democratic States sidelined reliable, conventional
fuels and mandated rushed transition to renewables, consumers paid
more.
I don't know about New York or California, but Ohio cannot afford
rolling blackouts, price spikes, or uncertainty about whether our grid
can meet future demand.
Earlier this year, the Department of Energy released a reliability
report warning that blackouts could increase by 100 percent by 2030.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Yakym). The time of the gentleman has
expired.
Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to
the gentleman from Ohio.
Mr. BALDERSON. The Reliable Power Act directly responds to those
concerns. First, it requires NERC, the electricity reliability
organization, to conduct annual long-term assessments of the bulk power
system. If NERC finds the grid is at risk of inadequate generation, it
must notify FERC.
FERC must then notify the Department of Energy, the EPA, and other
relevant agencies. Once notified, those agencies must send the proposed
rules back to FERC for review, comment, and recommendations to prevent
severe impacts on grid reliability.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to
support this bipartisan, commonsense legislation to ensure that no
future administration or unelected Federal bureaucrat can unilaterally
jeopardize grid reliability.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I have a lot of respect for the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Balderson), who just spoke, but the bottom line is that I think it is
dishonest for Republicans to claim that the cost of compliance with
environmental regulations is driving up utility prices.
The regulatory chaos that the gentleman from Ohio mentions is created
by the Trump administration. Since President Trump took office, his
administration has created tremendous regulatory uncertainty through
DOGE, senseless tariffs, and unprecedented executive actions. As a
result, as I mentioned, electricity prices are up 13 percent, and
natural gas prices are up 8 percent since the President took office.
Mr. Speaker, this holiday season, Americans are struggling to afford
record-high utility bills and skyrocketing grocery prices. Donald Trump
and the Republican Party were elected on their promise to bring prices
down. Instead, the Republican Party is about to become the grinch who
stole Christmas. They want to let the Affordable Care Act credits that
kept health insurance affordable for families expire on January 1.
This bill, the Reliable Power Act, would let the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, or FERC, kill any environmental regulations they
don't like. In other words, this bill would make Americans sicker as
health insurance prices are skyrocketing.
Republicans in Congress are just not delivering on their promise to
bring down prices. The big, ugly bill will increase electricity prices
for American families by 61 percent. Instead of passing partisan bills
this week that would increase energy prices, Republicans should be
working with us and Democrats on bipartisan proposals that can decrease
energy bills.
Mr. Speaker, Americans are just begging for relief on skyrocketing
prices, and President Trump's only response has been to call the
affordability crisis the ``Democratic hoax.'' His rhetoric is an insult
to the American people, but my Democratic colleagues and I are taking
the affordability crisis very seriously. We hear the concerns of the
public, and we strongly urge our Republican colleagues to come to the
table to pass commonsense legislation that brings prices down for the
American people.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from Missouri (Mr. Onder).
Mr. ONDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3616, the Reliable
Power Act.
Mr. Speaker, if the Democrats cared one whit about affordability,
they would join me in that support. In Missouri's Third Congressional
District, families, farmers, and manufacturers rely on affordable,
dependable electricity. Our district is powered by a diverse mix
of nuclear, hydropower, natural gas, and coal. That diversity is a
strength, which is why Missouri consistently enjoys lower energy prices
than the rest of the Nation.
However, reliability is threatened when Washington policies force
premature plant closures and prioritize ideology over affordability.
The Reliable Power Act restores common sense. It ensures that grid
reliability is not sacrificed and that critical baseload generation is
protected when reliability is at risk.
This bill protects consumers from price hikes, safeguards American
manufacturing, and keeps power flowing in communities like mine.
Mr. Speaker, reliable power is not a luxury. It is essential.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3616.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I stress again that the President promised to cut
Americans' power bills in half. Instead, he and his Republican
accomplices in the House are causing those prices to soar with their
backward policies and, essentially, their war on cheaper, clean energy.
Thanks to Republicans, electricity prices are climbing more than
twice as fast as inflation, and more than 80 million Americans are
struggling to pay their utility bills. Many of these Americans are
having to make the impossible choice of either paying for housing,
medicine, and food, or keeping their lights on.
Let me just give some examples. Since President Trump took office,
electricity prices are up, 13 percent nationwide, as I mentioned.
However, in Iowa, they are up 23 percent. In North Carolina, they are
up 21 percent. In Pennsylvania, they are up 16 percent.
Mr. Speaker, electricity prices aren't the only bills that are
skyrocketing. Residential natural gas prices are now 8 percent higher
than they were a year ago nationally, but, again, 19 percent in
Pennsylvania, 14 percent in Wisconsin, and 13 percent in North
Carolina.
We mentioned that the big, ugly bill will raise electricity prices by
a staggering 61 percent over the next decade due to its attacks on
cleaner and cheaper energy and its crippling of the American clean
energy industry.
The big, ugly bill destroyed tax credits that were designed to
incentivize developers to build more domestic energy projects, raising
barriers to those buildings in the process, and it will half the
deployment of cheap, renewable American energy and imperil our power
grid. These historic price hikes are on top of the $29 billion in
electricity bill rate hikes that utility companies have requested since
the start of President Trump's term.
Mr. Speaker, I don't want to just talk about prices because the
bottom line is we are also talking with this bill about a cost to
Americans' health and safety.
This bill allows FERC to override regulations established by other
agencies. This is the Christmas gift to some of the Nation's largest
polluters. Think about that. FERC, which has no expertise in public
health or environmental protections, would just be able to stop another
agency's regulation meant to protect public health.
These are regulations that are responsible for safe drinking water,
for
[[Page H6004]]
reducing air pollution, and preventing exposure to cancer-causing
chemicals. We are not just talking about price increases here that the
Trump administration has imposed. We are also talking about the impact
on health and people's ability to breathe and drink clean water.
By advancing this bill, Republicans are telling communities that
their health and safety is not a priority. Pollution is exacerbating
your child's asthma. Who cares? Your water may be contaminated. That is
nothing to worry about. We don't care.
Other agencies spent years crafting regulations, often after an
extensive analysis that shows that the benefits of that regulation from
a health and safety point of view outweighs the costs. However, this
bill would throw all of that out the door by allowing FERC, which has
no expertise in these areas, to just say ``no,'' and FERC doesn't even
want to do it. They told us.
As the ranking member of the Energy Subcommittee, Ms. Castor, said--
they literally told us at the committee--that they didn't want to do
this and didn't have the capacity to do it.
{time} 1630
We have made so much progress in the United States on environmental
protection over the last 50 years. Our Nation's rivers used to catch
fire. Now, they don't. Smog used to surround our cities, particularly
Los Angeles. Now, it doesn't.
President Trump and House Republicans want to undo all of that. They
have waged an all-out war against public health, and this bill is just
one piece of that.
If my colleagues care about public health, if they care about prices,
if they want to make sure people can breathe and can still pay their
electricity bills, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. It just
makes common sense.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio's
12th Congressional District, Troy Balderson, for sponsoring this
important legislation.
H.R. 3616, the Reliable Power Act, provides a critical tool to
protect the public from future Federal rules that would force the
premature retirement of power generation that is absolutely essential
to keeping our grid reliable.
The Reliable Power Act, Mr. Speaker, is about safety. It is about
security. It is also, quite frankly, about affordability. There is
nothing more expensive, Mr. Speaker, than a blackout, a rolling
blackout. I know.
There is nothing more costly than green visions that drive out
affordable power for expensive overbuilding of weather-dependent
generation and backup power. That is why these electric bills are
rising.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford to let radical rules destroy
reliability in our great Nation. H.R. 3616 provides a way to adjust
proposed rules to absolutely ensure good Federal policies while
protecting electric reliability. A ``yes'' vote on H.R. 3616 is a vote
for that kind of reliable power. There is nothing more important for
our electric policy than that, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R.
3616, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 951, the previous question is ordered on
the bill, as amended.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. WEBER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
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