SEEC Building Resilient Housing Task Force Opposes Republican Effort to Raise Household Energy Bills

Washington, D.C. – The Co-Chairs of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Building Resilient Housing Task Force Reps. Dave Min (CA-47) and Johnny Olszewski (MD-02) released the following statement in response to the House passage of the Republican-led Home Appliance Protection and Affordability Act (H.R. 4626) and Homeowner Energy Freedom Act (H.R. 4758).

“This week, House Republicans showed us once again that the affordability crisis in America is the direct result of the policies they have enacted. Coming on the heels of President Trump’s rambling and divisive State of the Union address, where he both mocked the concerns of average Americans about affordability and failed to take responsibility for his role in raising costs — including energy utility costs — House Republicans decided to pass another slew of bills that would further strain our electrical grid and make life more expensive for American families.

“It’s a simple and straightforward concept: making everything from our home appliances to multi-home buildings more efficient means we can use less electricity and spend less money on our utility bills. In fact, over the last decade, U.S. households would have paid $6,000 more on utility bills if current national efficiency standards weren’t in place. But Republicans just can’t seem to wrap their head around the basic idea that saving energy in the midst of an energy affordability crisis is a good thing. 

“Adding insult to injury, they also voted to gut federal dollars dedicated to directly helping American families lower their utility bills. These are real consumer savings for the American people that Republicans are working overtime to make disappear.

“This week demonstrated just how far House Republicans are willing to go to turn their backs on Trump’s now-defunct promise to lower energy costs on Day One of his Administration. It seems worth reiterating to our Republican colleagues that energy costs should be going down, not up.”