Guaranteeing Reliability Through the Interconnection of Dispatchable Power Act
Floor Speech
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill.
After their big, ugly bill made energy more expensive for American families already struggling to make ends meet, Republicans are attempting to finish the job by further continuing their nonsensical attack on clean energy.
This bill would aim to make it harder to hook clean power up to the electric grid and would remove safeguards intended to ensure that the entities in charge of our power grid can't discriminate against clean energy.
While the regulatory processes that power grid operators use to hook power plants up to the grid does not make for riveting television time, it is still very important, especially at a time when power demand is rising and we must get more clean energy onto the electric grid.
If you listen to Republicans, they will tell you that the main point of this bill is to allow grid operators to prioritize resources they can get on the grid as quickly as possible, yet they are conveniently ignoring the fact that grid operators can already do that.
This isn't some hypothetical power. Grid operators from the mid- Atlantic, the Midwest, and the Great Plains have this year all made tweaks to the processes they use to hook power plants up to the grid.
In reality, the point of this bill, in my opinion, is to prioritize fossil fuel plants by allowing them to jump to the front of the line ahead of wind, solar, and battery storage.
This is really preposterous when you consider that 94 percent of proposed power generation waiting to be interconnected is zero-carbon clean energy.
Republicans want grid operators to be able to discriminate against renewable power, continuing Trump's war against clean, cheap energy, and Republicans are trying to kill off the only realistic source of electricity growth and of our Nation. That is clean energy. There is nothing here more complicated than that. That is what they are trying to do, kill clean energy.
It is a real shame because we do need to find ways to add more energy to the grid. Prices have skyrocketed in my home State of New Jersey, largely because of decisions that the PJM, our grid operator, made 5 to 10 years ago that created a clogged queue for power plants waiting to hook up to the grid.
It has been a disaster.
While recent rules from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have helped, we have to do more. Instead of focusing on picking winners and losers in the interconnection queue, we should focus instead on speeding up the processing of the entire queue so power plants can get online as quickly as possible because we need more power from all sources.
We should focus on making it easier to build the necessary grid infrastructure upgrades so power can get online. We should do it all in a way that is fair to American families paying the bills.
This bill does none of that. It simply gives a fast pass to Big Oil and Gas, and I urge my colleagues to oppose the bill.
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Mr. PALLONE. Castor), the ranking member of our Energy Subcommittee.
Mr. Speaker, the Energy and Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over a number of issues, including energy, but we also have jurisdiction over the FCC. Beyond that, this House, in my opinion, and the Members of this House have an obligation to guarantee free speech in our democracy at all times.
Yesterday, FCC Chairman Carr used his position to launch a swift and decisive campaign to remove Jimmy Kimmel from the Nation's airwaves.
Let's not kid ourselves about what happened. President Trump has been openly trying to get Jimmy Kimmel fired since his first term. Press reports detail White House staff calls to Disney as far back as 2018 to complain about Kimmel's jokes, but now, President Trump has a willing partner at the FCC with Chairman Carr.
An agency that once prized its independence is now overtly being used as the personal speech police of the President of the United States, a cudgel against dissent.
Mr. Speaker, Chairman Carr issued a public threat to Disney, ABC. He said: ``We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.''
Given that the FCC licenses all ABC stations, both stations owned and operated by Disney and third-party-owned ABC affiliates, this threat carried real weight. Licenses can be revoked by the agency, wrecking a company.
The threat sparked Nexstar and Sinclair, two affiliate owners, to preempt Kimmel's show from the ABC programming stream and leaving Disney with no other choice but to suspend Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely. It is no surprise that these affiliate companies also seek regulatory favor from the FCC.
Mr. Speaker, there was a time when my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would be outraged by this government overreach. They would not condone this assault on free speech. There was a time when companies, particularly American broadcasters, would hold the line and assert their constitutional rights for all of us.
Apparently, that time is over. It is a dark day indeed. We need to be clear about two things: One, all Jimmy Kimmel did was speak. Two, it is not freedom when a private company decides to shut down speech to avoid punishment from the government.
That needs to end now, and that means that Chairman Carr should resign. I urge my colleagues to keep in mind that the First Amendment is the most important amendment and probably the most important part of our Constitution to guarantee free speech.
Not only does this need to end now, but we have to continue to speak out when we see violations of free speech, both by the President, by the FCC, or by anyone else, frankly, who we have jurisdiction over. I feel very strongly about this, but I do want to go back to the energy issue in the bill that is before us today.
Mr. Speaker, my friends on the other side of the aisle claim they are for all of the above. I have heard that over and over again from the Republicans. They are for all of the above with regard to energy consumption.
The bills today show that is simply not true. It is not accurate when they say that. I have to thank Secretary of Energy Chris Wright for being honest about this. At a Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing in June, he was very blunt. He said: ``These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.''
Mr. Speaker, there we have it. The Trump administration is staunchly against all of the above. That makes sense because their actions at least match their rhetoric. They are doing everything they can to put their thumb on the scale for dirty energy and cancel every clean energy project they possibly can, no matter how helpful it might be to keep electricity bills down or keep the lights on.
We have a duty to ensure that our power grid can keep the lights on. Even if Republicans don't like to admit it, that means adding clean energy to the grid. It is the quickest source of energy to add to the grid, given the current multiyear gas turbine shortage.
Grid reliability regulators have been clear that renewable energy and batteries were critical in allowing the grid to endure multiple heat waves this summer. That is why Texas added more solar and wind energy to their power grid than any other State in the country in the wake of the blackouts during Winter Storm Uri 4 years ago. Solar and wind helps keep the lights on.
Unfortunately, Republicans seem uninterested in acknowledging the basic reality that solar and wind, partnered with batteries, can be an essential part of a reliable power grid. Instead, they have done everything they can to increase the costs for these technologies and make it harder to add clean energy to the grid.
Mr. Speaker, between this bill and the big, ugly bill, every time Americans open their power bill or see their lights flicker, Republicans are responsible. I think the American people will hold them accountable.
For all these reasons, I oppose this bill, as I oppose the other two energy bills today.
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Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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