ATR Supports the “Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act”

Americans for Tax Reform urges members of Congress to vote “YES” on H.R. 6192, the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act.

H.R. 6192 was introduced by Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) and passed favorably out of the House Energy & Commerce Committee by a vote of 26-20. A vote on the floor of the House of Representatives is expected on Tuesday afternoon.

Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform issued the following statement in support of the bill:

“Joe Biden is a nanny state politician who thinks he knows what household appliances families need better than they do. The Biden administration continues pushing needless regulations to further a radical green agenda that make everyday appliances like dishwashers and gas stoves unaffordable for consumers. The Hands off Our Home Appliances Act will protect consumers from the Biden administration making such goods unaffordable by overregulation, or from outright banning them. Americans for Tax Reform is proud to endorse this bill.”

The bill would prevent the Department of Energy (DOE) from cracking down on, banning, or over-regulating home appliances based on unjust energy conservation standards. Before implementing new standards, DOE would have to show that they are “not likely to result in additional net costs to the consumer,” “not likely to result in any lessening of market competition,” and “will not result in any lessening of the utility or the performance of the applicable covered product.” DOE would also be prevented from banning certain types of appliances based on the type of fuel used, such as bans on natural gas products in favor of electrification.

Last year, Biden’s DOE cracked down on gas appliances by introducing a proposed rulemaking which would create stricter efficiency standards for gas stoves, a move that some industry players said could block 95 percent of appliances currently on the market. DOE itself said that over half of gas stove models on the market today would not comply with the new standards, which they admitted would raise the upfront cost of the products by $32.5 million per year.

The proposal from DOE followed earlier comments from Richard Trumka, a Biden appointee to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), who told Bloomberg News that gas stoves are a “hidden hazard” and suggested banning them outright. In June, the House of Representatives passed a pair of bills, H.R. 1615 and H.R. 1640, to protect the availability of gas stoves for Americans in the face of crackdowns from Biden’s CPSC and DOE, respectively.

Passing H.R. 6192, the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, is a key next step in protecting consumer choice and preventing government-imposed price hikes for a broader collection of home appliances. Americans for Tax Reform urges a “YES” vote on the bill.