Frank Pallone: “I have no additional speakers. I yield myself such time as I may consume to close. Mr. Speaker, I go back to the…”

“I have no additional speakers. I yield myself such time as I may consume to close. Mr. Speaker, I go back to the dishwashers and clarify some of the facts here. Republicans are throwing around a lot of numbers that I believe are not true. Yesterday, at the Rules Committee, we heard from Republicans that the new dishwasher standards will take 12 years for consumers to break even, and Members cited Department of Energy as a source for this number. However, the 12-year payback period is in reference to a DOE evaluation of a proposed standard from May of last year. Department of Energy didn't actually adopt that rule. The actual payback period for the rule that was finalized is 3.9 years, and the estimated average lifetime of the dishwasher is way longer. DOE estimates that the price increase for dishwashers going from the lowest efficiency to the new minimum efficiency standard required will be $26, and these $26 will be paid back in less than 4 years. Additionally, the price of most dishwashers is not expected to increase at all. Many models already meet the standards or only require small adjustments. Mr. Speaker, Republicans are using old data to trivialize the savings from the standards and exaggerate the costs. As we have said over and over, the Department of Energy considers the technology, the costs, and the savings in this process.…”