Jeff Fortenberry: “I appreciate the opportunity to offer this commonsense amendment to protect American jobs and reduce regulatory burdens.…”

“I appreciate the opportunity to offer this commonsense amendment to protect American jobs and reduce regulatory burdens. Quite simply, this amendment would block the Department of Energy from implementing unnecessary energy conservation standards for golf cart battery chargers. Madam Chairman, I recognize that reasonable regulations are necessary to protect human health and the environment; however, we must guard against costly rules that provide no meaningful benefit to the United States but instead encourage this shift of American jobs overseas to lower-wage countries where environmental standards are minimal. The proposed golf cart battery charger rule is clearly such a regulation. The proposed standards would achieve minimal energy savings, and the Department of Energy itself acknowledges that they would result in U.S. manufacturing jobs being sent overseas. While I support the overall goal of promoting energy efficiency, I am very concerned about this proposed regulation that directly affects more than 100 jobs right where I live. Madam Chair, last week's unemployment figures highlight the economic challenges we face in our country. Job growth is slowing and unemployment is ticking up. In this kind of economic climate, why would we want to intentionally force American jobs overseas through increased and unnecessary regulation?…”