State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this bill. It is a wholesale attack on clean energy under the guise of reliability. Americans can see through the nonsense here to the truth, and that is that Republicans are waging a culture war against wind and solar. American families are footing the bill with higher monthly utility bills.

For a moment, I want to try to take Republicans at their word, that this bill is all about electric reliability, ensuring that the lights won't go out. In that case, I have excellent news for my Republican colleagues. The law this bill amends, the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, or PURPA, already does that. The law requires States to have an integrated resource plan that considers reliability. That is all we need to do, and Congress already did it 33 years ago.

Of course, the only difference between that law and the language in this bill is the bogus definition about what counts as ``reliable generation facility.'' It should come as no surprise that the only things that count are coal, natural gas, and nuclear. That is it, not wind, not solar, not either of those even when paired with battery storage. It is completely ridiculous and the latest example of Republicans' relentless attack on cheaper and cleaner energy sources.

Ever since President Trump took office earlier this year, Republicans have been obsessed with crusading against wind and solar whenever they can. They passed the big, ugly bill, which slashed tax incentives for clean energy and made electricity more expensive for everyone. They have tried to kill every wind or solar project on Federal lands and in Federal waters, driving up people's energy bills even further. Now, they are trying to put another thumb on the scale in favor of dirty fossil energy by pushing a bill with a fake definition of ``reliable generation.''

Unfortunately, the American people are paying the price. This past summer, when much of the United States was in a so-called heat dome fueled by climate change, the grid's electricity regulators said that solar helped save the day, preventing dangerous outages in that record heat.

The reality is that no single source of electricity is perfect, but that is why storage and a diversity of generation resources are so important. Republicans don't care about how we can actually help the grid. Instead, they only care about extending fossil fuels at the expense of clean, cheap energy.

This is just another instance when Republicans are doing the bidding of their corporate polluter friends over the needs of the American people. If they cared about the American people, they would be bringing bills to the floor that would actually address the affordability crisis. Instead, Republicans are debating this bill that they know will increase prices for Americans.

By forcing States to consider preferencing dirty and expensive fossil energy, Republicans are increasing everyone's utility bills even more than they already have. It is just more of the same from a Republican Congress that is dead set on increasing costs for American families.

I don't understand it, Madam Speaker. President Trump promised to cut Americans' power bills in half. Instead, he and Republicans are causing them to soar with their backward policies and their war on cheaper, cleaner energy. Since Trump took office, electricity prices are up 13 percent, and natural gas prices are up 8 percent. They simply don't care. They would rather continue to push bills like this that will make the affordability crisis even worse.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor), who is the ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Energy.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse), our assistant Democratic leader.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Colorado.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Schrier), who is a member of our committee.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Mullin), who is also a member of our committee.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, may I ask the chairman if he is prepared to close.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise to object to the Trump administration and congressional Republicans' disastrous energy policies and their impacts on everyday Americans.

We have a duty to ensure that our power grid can keep the lights on. That demands an all-of-the-above approach to energy. Given the unprecedented demand to add capacity to our grid as AI data centers continue to expand, we need to use every tool that we can to keep energy prices down. 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 basically clear: Renewable energy and batteries were critical in allowing the grid to endure multiple heat waves this summer.

That is why Texas has added more solar and wind energy to their power grid, more than any other State in the country, in the wake of their horrific blackouts during Winter Storm Uri 4 years ago. That is because solar energy helps keep the lights on.

Unfortunately, Republicans seem uninterested in acknowledging that 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 of these technologies and make it harder to add clean energy to the grid. They are using their power to subsidize dirty, expensive fossil fuel, all at the cost of American families who are struggling to afford their electricity bills.

Now, if you don't believe me, just ask Secretary Chris Wright. At an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in June, he was blunt. The Secretary said: ``I have never been for all of the above, and if I said it at one point in time, I misspoke.'' There you have it, Madam Speaker.

The Trump administration is staunchly against all of the above. The Secretary is saying it, and that makes sense. Their actions at least match their rhetoric. They are doing everything they can to put their thumb on the scale for dirty energy, including through this bill, H.R. 3628. They are canceling every single clean energy project they possibly can, no matter how helpful it might be to keeping electricity bills down or the lights on.

Madam Speaker, the bills on the floor today will only worsen the Republican affordability crisis. Every time Americans open their power bill or see their lights flicker, Republicans are responsible. I think the American people will hold them accountable.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Chair, I urge opposition to the amendment because it doubles down on a bogus and misleading definition of ``reliable generation,'' a definition that would only include coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants.

While I would typically have no problem with a GAO report, I do have a problem with Republicans pretending that fossil fuel generation is perfect and that there is no room for clean, cheap energy in a diversified grid.

In the last few years, Republicans have moved away from saying that clean energy is too expensive and are now claiming it is unreliable. Madam Speaker, the only reason they have done that is because they have firmly and permanently lost the argument. Clean energy is cheap energy. Everyone knows it, even Republicans now.

In their desperation to keep Americans' energy bills high to keep the profits flowing for oil and gas, Republicans have started peddling the falsehood that clean energy isn't reliable. I want to be clear: There is no such thing as a perfectly reliable power plant. They all can run into problems. Renewables depend on wind and the Sun. Coal and gas often have issues in extreme heat or cold. That is why it is important that we pursue an all-of-the-above approach.

Unfortunately, President Trump and his Secretary of Energy don't believe in all of the above. Instead, Republicans are out here working overtime to shill for coal and gas. It is just very sad.

Madam Speaker, I urge opposition to the amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MOORE of West Virginia. Madam Speaker, baseload energy in this country is absolutely quantified and defined by natural gas, nuclear, and coal. That is baseload energy in this country.

The reason green energy was ever affordable or cheaper is because everybody in America is subsidizing it right now with their tax dollars. That is the only reason that it ever became competitive. It is because we are subsidizing a broken system.

Green energy is consistent in its inability to produce baseload energy, reliability, or consistency. It is not consistent in its ability to transmit even down the power lines that are currently in place, which many times they have to construct new ones.

This is a report--by the way, this is just a report--which I think is so critical to assessing our plans here to have cheap, abundant, reliable energy for the United States and the American people.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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