Here They Go Again
The size and spending of the federal government has exploded. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, federal spending is estimated to increase 43% between 2019 and 2024.
The nonprofit OpenTheBooks.com recently released a report about the growth of one of our federal agencies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), showing that the agency’s budget has increased by more than $100 billion over the past two years under Biden. Additionally, the President is seeking to increase EPA’s full-time staff by thousands in fiscal year 2024.
One would hope that with more money and employees, our federal government would be working to make average Americans’ lives easier. But apparently that’s not the case.
A series of new rules and regulations from the Biden Administration has made clear that the federal government is going to further overregulate our lives, this time with our appliances.
The U.S Department of Energy (DOE) proposed a rule which would set maximum annual energy consumption standards for electric and gas stoves. According to DOE, this change would cause half of gas stove models sold in the United States to be non-compliant.
House Republicans took action to prevent this government overreach by passing the Save Our Gas Stoves Act in June, legislation to prohibit DOE from implementing the proposed rule. The legislation is pending in the Senate.
Well, it hasn’t stopped at gas stoves.
In February, DOE proposed new energy standards for washing machines and refrigerators. DOE says Americans who update both appliances would save $425 on their utility bill over the average lifetime of the appliances, which works out to about $16 per appliance per year.
Manufactures of appliances warn the new standards will lead to reduced performance and much higher prices, affecting lower- and middle-income families who can’t afford the skyrocketing prices of new refrigerators and washing machines.
Years back a woman from Bluefield told me she was filling her washing machine with a hose because Obama-era water restrictions for washing machines wouldn’t allow for enough water to properly clean her clothes.
Now the new Biden DOE regulations will require washing machines to use almost 25 percent less water – the problem is only getting worse!
Also, DOE released a rule to cut water use by more than one-third for dishwashers.
According to the Institute for Energy Research, these changes to dishwashers would result in higher upfront prices for the appliance, while only saving Americans $17 annually on water and energy costs (based on a standard-size dishwasher).
Further, DOE released a draft rule to force most electric water heaters in the future to deploy heat pump technology and gas-fired water heaters to use condensing technology. According to Fox News Digital, experts have criticized the draft rule, as the new standards would ban cheaper alternatives while minimally impacting utility bills.
Around the same time, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission proposed a policy which would ban the sale of almost all portable gas-powered electric generators.
It seems that no appliance is safe from the Biden Administration.
In fact, a new light bulb ban has just gone into effect.
Under DOE regulations, manufacturers and retailers are no longer allowed to sell most incandescent light bulbs, which make up about 30% of light bulbs sold in the United States, in an effort to force Americans to use light-emitting diode, or LED, light bulbs.
According to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey, this new regulation will particularly impact lower-income Americans as they prefer to use incandescent over LED.
Forcing Americans to use LED light bulbs may have negative health effects. According to reports from a University of Exeter study, LED emits more blue light, which suppresses melatonin. This can affect your sleep cycle and over time, lead to problems like hypertension, diabetes, or even a heart attack.
This overregulation by the federal government hurts the working poor and middle class the most. When a family has to replace their appliances, some Americans won’t be able to afford to do so.
That is a heap of pain for little gain!
It’s not like the current regulations date back to the 1950s! Most of these regulations are about a decade old.
These new overreaching regulations on appliances by the federal government are making Americans’ lives more difficult and more costly. The Biden Administration is focused on small gains without a care for the financial burden being placed on lower- and middle-income families.
The increased costs will not affect wealthy folks. The Biden Administration has lost touch with average Americans.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.
August 10, 2023 @ 2:31 am
As long as they keep spending the money to help us common folk.I say let them spend its better than the Republicans giving it all to their rich buddy’s.
August 7, 2023 @ 4:20 pm
Oh here we go again..
Half the time the government gets involved in regulating people”s everyday lives, it’s a nightmare.
The government can’t even balance their own checkbooks. Why do I want them meddling in my home and daily life?
When California and the EPA redesigned the common gas can (in order to prevent venting fumes and spillage), they created a substandard piece of crap gas can that leaks and dumps more fuel onto the ground than any other solution.[1]
But now it’s law.. and now we’re stuck with substandard, governemtn mandated gas cans. So I’lm left to having to go our and buy my own after market gas nozzles so I’m not leaking gas all over my driveway and lawn.
Or how about when they came to “save us” and reduce our “carbon footprint” by requiring ethenol in our gasoline only to discover (a solution that is harder on gas engines), it was later found that:
“The EPA’s original estimates suggested that U.S. land use change would sequester carbon and help improve the carbon footprint of ethanol. But in retrospect, we now know it did just the opposite,” Lark says. “Rather than reduce the carbon intensity of ethanol to 20% lower than gasoline, it looks like it actually increases it to that much higher than gasoline.”[2]
But now the ethanol laws and farmer subsidies are are in place.. and no one cares. Move onto the next problem the “fix”.
In the case of LED bulbs.. Personally, I like LED bulbs.. but the laws were passed before teh technology was mature, plus the technology was pushed on the public with the lie that even though they cost 5-10 times more.. that the new bulbs would last 20 years instead of two.. When In reality, the price of the bulbs just shot up FIVE TO TEN TIMES (from under $1 to over $5 ea!!).. and now I’m still replacing LED bulbs about every two years (not the claimed “20”). But since LEDs are mandated, LED bulbs don’t have to compete against performance price point of the incandescent.. which takes away the drive to innovate and get better.. which kills innovation.. just like with the government gas cans. So now again.. we’re stuck with an over priced, under-performing “solution”.
Just like Ronald Reagan said,
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help. – Ronald Reagan 1986
Hey DC..
Stop Californianing My Country.. and micromanaging my life.
T.Weeks
[1] – https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/11/6/1342736/-Has-anyone-purchased-a-new-gas-can-lately
[2] – https://www.treehugger.com/ethanol-worse-for-climate-than-gasoline-study-5219116
August 6, 2023 @ 8:01 pm
The gas stove culture war. Congress needs to address the cost of natural gas for these precious appliances. Customers can’t afford it. Let’s check out some facts on gas stoves and why regulations are needed. Keeping our families and pets safe are the most important things. Cutting regulations leaves safety to corporations. They don’t care and will not spend money on safety.
Emissions of health-damaging air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, were found to be directly related to the use of the gas stove.
“Research has shown that gas stoves leak unburned gas while they are off and unburned natural gas contains hazardous air pollutants, some of which are known carcinogens, such as benzene,” said Eric Lebel, a senior scientist at PSE Healthy Energy, a nonprofit research institute, in a statement to Changing America.
“Gas stoves have also been found to emit nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide while in use.”
Appliances can also leak unburned methane gas — a greenhouse gas more than 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide — into the atmosphere, even when they are off, Lebel added.
August 5, 2023 @ 11:26 pm
Congressman Griffith approved a 1.5 trillion dollar tax increase on working class Americans in 2017. They called it a tax cut but since it only benefited the wealthiest 1% in America and we still have the same national defense, roads, education, social security, and all the other things that the federal government funds, the working class had to pony up the additional 1.5 trillion via reduced deductions and higher tax brackets.
The numbers don’t lie if someone pays less someone else must be paying more.