The Republican Run U.S. House is a Sad Joke
The House Rules Committee, the committee that determines which bills will be presented to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, is, of course, still run by majority Republicans. Under the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson House Republicans have refused to bring military aid to Ukraine to the House floor even as Russia presses forward in its war of conquest. We probably should not be amazed that, prior to Iran’s attack on Israel last weekend, the House Rules Committee was poised to dive into this agenda on April 15th:
As Joyce Vance put it, “No, it’s not SNL; this was their actual agenda.” In case the fine print is unreadable, here is the list of bills in all their glory:
- H.R. 6192 – Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act
- H.R. 7673 – Liberty in Laundry Act
- H.R. 7645 – Clothes Dryers Reliability Act
- H.R. 7637 – Refrigerator Freedom Act
- H.R. 7626 – Affordable Air Conditioning Act
- H.R. 7700 – Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act
While Ukraine burns, House Republicans want you to know that they are all about protecting you from energy efficiency standards for your household appliances. The text of each bill opens with, “To prohibit the Secretary of Energy from prescribing or enforcing energy conservation standards…” This is what you get these days when you elect Republicans to Congress.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-CD5, eastern Washington) is retiring at the end of this year. There are now twelve candidates, four Democrats and eight Republicans, registered with the Federal Elections Commission vying to represent eastern Washington’s 5th Congressional District in the U.S. Congress. If you send one of the Republican candidates to the U.S. House and Republicans retain a majority, you can expect more of this inanity no matter which of them you elect. House Republicans vote in lockstep and their leadership, controlled by the so-called Freedom Caucus, will not change. Don’t expect anything but more of the same if you replace one Republican in the U.S. House with a different Republican regardless of the blather you will hear from the Republican candidates on the campaign trail this fall.
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry
P.S. Of course, all of these bills are really about reassuring the fossil fuel industry that Republicans want to make sure government regulations don’t in any way threaten their profits. It should be obvious that improvements in energy efficiency of appliances eventually pay for themselves in cost savings in the energy necessary to keep them running. Remember the Republican rhetoric around the changeover from heat-producing incandescent lamps to compact fluorescents and then to LEDs? Republicans are all about bolstering the fossil fuel industry by putting the brakes on the future.