Janice Schakowsky: “All this would be fine if it weren't the case that we have members of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers…”

“All this would be fine if it weren't the case that we have members of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers that actually have falsely claimed that their products meet Energy Star specifications. And nothing in the remedy actually says that the consumer will have the right to reclaim their money that they spent on the washer or the dryer or the appliance that was bought because they thought that they would both save energy and, over time, that they would save money as well. As I said earlier, this rule, this law, has been in place for many years. It does not interfere with the fact that this is a voluntary program, that the companies decide if they want to participate in Energy Star to be an Energy Star product, but it does say they have to keep their promise. And they have to keep their promise not just to the EPA or to some regulatory framework; they have to keep their promise to the individual consumer who has actually laid out the bucks to buy that product. This provides an opportunity for that consumer to be able to reclaim a product if it is found not to meet the Energy Star promise that they made of 10 to 25 percent energy efficiency improvements. So it seems to me, why would this body go about the business of taking away a consumer right? I thought we were supposed to be in the business of trying to figure out how we are going to adequately protect consumers not in the generic sense, but in the individual sense.…”