Appliances may cost more and not work as well as they used to but such means little to Congressman Bennie Thompson as he voted against a bill that would fix this problems last week.
The House of Representatives passed the Home Appliance Protection and Affordability Act, H.R. #4626, last week by a vote of 217-190. History and text of bill. Seven Democrats voted with Republicans to approve the measure.
It is no secret appliances don't work as well as they used to thanks to the federal government. Dishwashers and washing machines now take two to three hours to clean. It costs more than ever to get refrigerant replaced in the car or home. National Review's Ben Lieberman reported:
Federal meddling in refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, furnaces, water heaters, dishwashers, and others began in the 1970s. The 1973 Arab oil embargo sparked a series of ill-advised congressional responses that may have inflicted more damage than the embargo itself. Some persist to this day, including the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 that created a program for regulating energy use in home appliances. It and subsequent amendments set out initial energy efficiency standards and required the DOE to periodically consider making them more stringent — a one-way ratchet. If this sounds like a formula for regulation run amok, that is exactly what has happened. Fast-forward to today, and washing machines have been regulated six times, dishwashers four times, refrigerators four times, air conditioners three times, and stoves and furnaces twice. Several face an additional round of even more aggressive DOE energy use limits enacted during the Biden administration and scheduled to take effect over the next few years. Note that several of these appliances also face environmental regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency. Granted, in 2023, Biden’s regulators backed away from tough proposed gas stove restrictions in the face of a powerful consumer backlash, but they seemingly made up for it by going hard after everything else..... Nearly all such regulations raise the up-front cost of appliances, and often by more than is likely to be earned back in the form of marginal energy savings. Some of the worst are yet to come, including a Biden-era furnace rule estimated by the DOE to raise purchase and installation costs by as much as $867 when it takes effect in 2028 and one for electric water heaters that will boost prices by $953 in 2029. And, to take a little more money out of our wallets, already-overregulated light bulbs will nearly double in price when the next regulation takes effect in 2028. Costliest of all are the current measures affecting residential central air-conditioning systems, a combination of DOE efficiency standards and Environmental Protection Agency rules requiring that new systems meet certain climate-change-related requirements. Installers say that replacing a 15-year-old system that probably cost around $5,000 when new will be more than twice that now. Beyond costs, many of these measures have adversely affected how well some appliances work. Dishwashers now take two hours or more to finish a normal load, about twice as long as before federal regulators decided to “improve” them. Washing machines reportedly require more maintenance and may not clean as well, and refrigerators tend to conk out several years sooner than they used to. Some regulations effectively outlaw certain versions of appliances. For example, the above-mentioned furnace rule will eliminate non-condensing natural gas models, despite the fact that they are the best option for millions of older homes with traditional chimneys. The Trump DOE hates these appliance regulations as much as team Biden loved them, and it has proposed reforms to several, including ones for washing machines and dishwashers. This is very helpful, assuming the regulatory changes survive the inevitable court challenges. But even if they do, agency-level actions can be undone by a subsequent administration, as occurred with several appliance reforms from the first Trump administration that were reversed under Biden. That is why legislation is needed to permanently curtail the regulatory excess. The Home Appliance Protection and Affordability Act contains a number of useful provisions. Perhaps most importantly, this House-passed measure strengthens the agency’s authority to revisit past standards that did not go as planned, be it unexpectedly high costs or adverse impacts on appliance quality. As the Energy Policy and Conservation Act now stands, once an appliance regulation is issued, it cannot easily be relaxed no matter how bad the results. But under this bill, such regulatory mistakes can be revised or even repealed by the agency. In addition, the bill raises the bar on any new standards by requiring a more rigorous showing that the consumer benefits outweigh the costs. It also prohibits climate change from being a rationale for regulation, as it had become under Biden and Obama. Rest of article.
Of course, Congressman Bennie Thompson voted against the bill. So great is his hatred for all things Republican that he would rather see them suffer than get relief from ruinous federal mandates on appliances.
33 comments:
Will this herald the end of CAFE standards? Will we see the importation of the Hilux?
Big Beautiful Bill gutted CAFE standards, removing the penalties. Watch a few videos of Royal Auto Service on FB or YT and you will see how much they have ruined durability and performance of vehicles.
Learning this dashes my long-held opinion of the Congressman as an intelligent fellow.
That's not good enough. Repeal would force legislature to come up with something else other than changing a dollar amount.
And we wonder why his district is so sh!++¥… he’s as corrupt as Graham is a blood lusting war hawk
Bennie got paid for voting against it. How do you think he’s become a millionaire on a congressman’s salary.
I wish someone like Espy would against Thompson. Yes Espy is a democrat but at least he isn’t racist against white people
There are plenty of examples of Republicans voting against Democratic bills regardless of their contents. What's your point? Kingfish just cherry-picked this one because it involves Bennie Thompson.
He’s a liberal and modern liberalism requires societal entropy. Something works? Break it. Break everything.
Bennie done gone and got hisself a pre-emptive full and unconditional pardon. He ain't worried about none of y'all Mississippi hayseeds.
@5:41 - who in their right mind gives a damn? Anyone with any common sense knows, or should know, that absolutely no home appliance works as good today as it did 25 years ago. You obviously have not had to run a dishwasher or washing machine multiple times to clean dishes and clothes, nor have you had to replace heating and cooling units.
How much grease did Bennie receive from LG and Samsung?
Bennie the GRIFTER
Bennie, thanks for checking in.
Our country continues to suffer under the “ leadership” of Biden.
Keep your old and older appliances working as long as you can because the equipment manufactured in the past 10 years is total shit. It can be done.
5:58 wins the day. 5:58 said, "He’s a liberal and modern liberalism requires societal entropy. Something works? Break it. Break everything."
@7:17pm - And we’ll suffer under the “leadership” of Trump for the next century.
@7:55pm - TF you think your Cheeto Mussolini is doing right now? Breaking everything, including laws.
Kingfish this is a hit piece designed to sway votes against Thompson on Election Day, I’m truly disappointed kingfish I thought you were unbiased
Kingfish why don’t you post about all the bills that would benefit us Mississippians that hydesmith keep voting against. King when you created this blog I thought that you were going to be fair, now you’re showing your bias. This post really hurts the trust I had in your reporting
My dishwasher works just today as it did 50 years ago, that is as long as I get three squares a day. No electricity required!
@10:12
Take it easy!!! I’d venture to say that a vast majority of readers on this blog live in NE Jackson Fondren Belhaven Madison or rankin co and very few if any live in a district represented by Uncle Bennie! So go have another or get back to your protest!
@10:20, Laughable plus your other comment 8 minutes earlier. Are you getting paid to troll?
The neoliberal cries out as he strikes you.
Did you also believe Walter Cronkite was unbiased?
When he was first elected to senator and rose to head of DHS, I joked with my colleagues about sharing the wealth of knowledge from our wonderful state. The more mainstream he became in the Democratic Party and they viewed him as an asset, I became more concerned with the fallout of political divide. Americans can expect regression in advancement when power comes into play. Unfortunately, Mississippi is a classic textbook of the good ole boy system. Great land but the continued wrong direction which scatters the productive society. What remains continues to dummy down. 25 years ago, my husband and I talked about it. Today we see it and are making adjustments to increase our quality of life. Moving to higher values.
This is the kind of everyday annoyance that really p*sses people off at the federal government.
They are not doing themselves any favors, when every time someone washes a load of dishes, they have to let it run overnight for three hours (like mine - it's about three years old and pretty top of the line).
Since I've been using appliances for over a half century as a wife and mother, the new appliances certainly ARE BETTER!
If you aren't actually using the appliances or didn't do due diligence on the product, it's only your fault. I have updated appliances since building this house but I'm still using my children and grandchildren are using my first appliances. Updating hasn't been a factor in utility or performance. The new appliances are quieter and they are more efficient.
Are y'all still using ice trays? Are your dishes sanitized? How's that old crisper doing? Don't have cycles for " delicates" that are truly more delicate without sacrificing soil removal?
Glad to know Bennie still does his " homework" on issues rather than just spout party nonsense created by those who are just against any good idea the other party has.
So sick of stupid partisanship. At least, pick battles intelligently!
Allow me to summarize: If it is good they are against it, if it is bad they are for it - democrats.
"When he was first elected to senator", uh??
>Today we see it and are making adjustments to increase our quality of life. Moving to higher values.
Trading living in the Delta for Jackson would have been an improvement.
9:27 - Thou art full of shit. I've gone through three refrigerators in the past 8 years because they're garbage. The first one I replaced gave me 20 years of faithful service.
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