Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Pallone for yielding the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3616. It is another Republican bill that fails to address skyrocketing electric bills that are a part of the overall affordability squeeze that is gripping the country right now.

What should we be doing on the floor of the House right now?

We should bring up the discharge petition to make sure that healthcare costs don't skyrocket for 20 million Americans and 4.7 million Floridians back home in the Sunshine State.

Now that the discharge petition has the necessary number of votes to come to the floor and extend those lifesaving and cost-saving ACA tax credits, we should be doing that instead. That would have a real impact. That would send a great sign to folks back home who are struggling with the rising cost of living and are wondering how they will pay for their health coverage next year. That would really help our neighbors back home. Alas, we are not doing that.

At a time when prices are up, inflation is up, and despite the Republican promises to do something about it, all of their bills and their policies are making it worse and making life even more expensive. Household electricity prices are up across America by about 13 percent and a lot higher in some places.

Why is that the case? First of all, the big, ugly bill that Republicans passed in July to provide tax breaks to the wealthy and well-connected took away tax credits to keep cleaner, cheaper energy producing across America. They ripped away rebates for households to help them afford the cost of upgrading their homes, making their lives more energy efficient.

Also, these arbitrary Trump tariffs are at the highest levels since the 1930s. We see it in our grocery bills, but it is also impacting electricity costs. Costs are way up for poles and wires and things that we import for our electricity systems. Those are being passed along to consumers.

The Trump administration has canceled hundreds of projects across America, some that were permitted and approved, ready to bring cleaner and cheaper energy onto the grid to help keep electricity prices lower. All of that is a recipe for skyrocketing electricity bills.

What do Republicans in Congress do? They keep bringing these random bills to the floor to boost the profits of polluters. This bill is a good example of that.

This bill would elevate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission above any other Federal agency, give it unprecedented veto power, and transform it and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation into political actors. That is a world away from the independent agencies that they are now where they act in the public interest and not in the interest of polluters.

Mr. Speaker, FERC doesn't even want this power. They lack the capacity and the staff for this highly technical work.

When we discussed this bill 2 years ago, David Ortiz, then FERC's Director of the Office of Electric Reliability, testified before the Energy and Commerce Committee that FERC couldn't execute on the bill because FERC does not have the capacity to assume other agencies' expertise. That was before FERC lost 11 percent of its staff-- hardworking public servants--due to resignations and layoffs under the Trump administration.

This bill doesn't do anything to provide FERC with the staff or funding they would need to implement the bill. No, it doesn't. Polluters simply want to short-circuit any oversight of their higher costs and pollution. That is what this is about.

FERC already has the power to intervene and comment on agency rulemaking dockets if they think there could be a reliability issue, as does NERC, as does any of the grid operators, and any utility. This polluter-friendly bill is a way to sabotage cleaner and cheaper energy, however, and energy storage. It is a recipe for higher costs and electric bills for American families.

Regional grid operators have the necessary expertise and staffing to maintain reliability on their grids already. Regional operators know that there are cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy sources available, not just expensive coal and gas.

There are modern grid solutions that the committee has refused to take up this year. That is another reason electric bills are so high. There are solutions like energy storage, demand response, grid- enhancing technologies, and regional and interregional coordination that can provide reliability at a lower price with less pollution.

Republicans also don't want us to know that, while this bill gives FERC more responsibilities that it cannot meet and does not want, the Trump administration has been busy gutting the agencies that are already working to ensure that we have a reliable grid.

For example, the Trump Department of Energy eliminated the Grid Deployment Office last month. That was an office created under the bipartisan infrastructure law to manage important and cost-saving investments to make our grid more reliable. Over $3 billion in grid deployment investments were cut in October.

The real Republican mantra should be a less reliable grid with higher costs because that is what this year has produced. Republican energy policy is creating a less reliable environment for businesses, making it harder for companies to invest in America.

Just yesterday, Ford announced they were laying off all 1,600 employees at their battery manufacturing plant in Glendale, Kentucky. In October, on top of the grid modernization cuts at the Department of Energy, DOE canceled 321 awards, totaling $8 billion in funding. The largest award was $316 million to support the manufacture of components from recycled EV batteries in Kentucky. That would have helped us compete with Chinese batteries.

Mr. Speaker, $197 million was supposed to help a plant in St. Louis producing 30,000 metric tons annually of critical minerals products. Mr. Speaker, $117 million was intended to support production of synthetic graphite, including construction of a large plant in Alabama. Also, $31 million was cut that was going to build an advanced glass factory at the site of an old coal plant in Detroit.

As a result, the United States will have less capacity to support real and reliable power. This bill does not solve problems. It doesn't tackle the affordability crisis. It makes it worse. It doesn't even support more reliable power. Republicans are just trying to slap a new permitting reform label on bad ideas that they have never been able to pass into law.

Here we are, the last week in session this year, Mr. Speaker, and Republicans have not brought a single bill to the floor of the House that would lower costs for hardworking families. They have no new ideas here. They have no ideas on how to make energy more affordable for everyday Americans and no ideas to help us out of this healthcare crisis.

Mr. Speaker, people really deserve better. They deserve better over the holidays, and they deserve better from this Congress. I urge my colleagues to vote against the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3632. It is a bill that will raise energy prices for American families by forcing them to pay for outdated polluting plants that are poisoning their air and water.

A reliable and affordable energy supply is vital to our way of life. Unfortunately, this bill and Republican policies are making electricity less reliable and less affordable. Mr. Speaker, electricity bills are up about 13 percent on average across America this year. They are higher in many places.

In Florida, they just approved the largest rate increase in the history of the country. They approved $7 billion in rate hikes for Florida Power & Light. Tampa Electric and Duke Energy in my neck of the woods also hiked rates this year. For TECO customers, we are paying 82 percent more than 5 years ago, or $939 more than we were.

Electricity prices are climbing more than twice as fast as the rate of inflation. Why is this happening? It is because of Republican policies. It is the chaos and dysfunction. Let's go ahead and get into this.

Why are electricity prices so high?

What is driving the cost increases?

First, there are the arbitrary Trump tariffs. They are now at the highest levels than they have been since the 1930s. Estimates are that the average household is going to pay at least $1,000 more because of tariffs. When we talk about energy, we are talking, as well, about how we modernize the grid, power poles, wires, and everything that goes into an electrical system. The utilities are passing that on to hardworking families.

Then we have the big, ugly bill that Republicans forced through here last summer. Predictions were when we take a hatchet to cleaner, cheaper energy poised to come onto the grid, when we rip away tax credits and rebates for consumers to keep their electricity bills low, prices are going to go up. That is what we are seeing now, too.

The big, ugly bill is estimated to raise electricity prices by a staggering 61 percent over the next decade, particularly as a result of Republicans declaring war on clean, cheap energy and crippling the American clean energy industry.

I don't know, Mr. Speaker. Did you see the jobs report that came out this morning? It doesn't look good. In today's jobs report, the number of manufacturing jobs continues to slide. November was the seventh straight

month of monthly decline. A lot of that goes back to the big, ugly bill and what the Trump administration has done over the past year in canceling clean energy projects.

My colleagues have heard all about them. An offshore wind project might be approved, permitted, and ready to come online. He says: No, we are not going to do that.

Mr. Speaker, that has an impact on the bottom line for our families. We might have another project coming online that is ready to go. It is cleaner energy. Everyone knows that solar power with storage and wind power with storage is the cheapest energy online. The Trump administration and Republican policies said no.

When our constituents open up that electric bill, I want them to understand that all of this has a cost and that they deserve so much better than the chaos and dysfunction, the distraction of tearing down the East Wing to build a ballroom, and the parties with dancing girls at Mar-a-Lago. Why don't my colleagues focus on people's cost of living for a change?

We would think that folks in Congress would come here to help solve problems.

Is there going to be an answer for higher healthcare costs? In Florida, 4.7 million of my neighbors rely on the Affordable Care Act tax credits.

Do Republicans have any answer for the 20 million families here during the holiday season who can't buy holiday gifts they want to put under the tree for their families? No, they will have to pinch every penny to pay for their healthcare. Many will go without.

Mr. Speaker, think about the cancer patients now who are looking at the new year and how they are going to afford their treatment.

It is electricity costs. It is groceries. It is healthcare costs. Then my Republican colleagues will waste our time with a bill that is another in the line of special treatment for polluters at the expense of hardworking American families today.

This bill would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission broad authority to force utilities to keep expensive and polluting fossil fuel power plants operating for extended periods, up to 5 years. What that does is it locks customers into paying billions of dollars more for power plants that were slated for retirement, despite the volatile fuel costs and the environmental harm.

They want to continue to block cleaner and cheaper energy, which is the cheapest energy coming onto the grid right now. I think they are living 20 to 30 years ago. Electricity generated by coal is on the decline. While it was about 50 percent of the electricity generation in America in the year 2000, here we are, 25 years later, and it is only 20 percent of electricity generation.

The main reason for that is simple. Coal is more expensive than a lot of the other options we have today. In almost every case today, it is actually cheaper to build new renewables than to keep existing coal plants running. Coal is only getting more expensive. Three-quarters of coal plants saw costs rising faster than inflation just over the past few years.

This bill is anticonsumer. Frankly, it is anti-American. People deserve better. If we want to lower electricity bills, I would ask my colleagues to march down to the White House because the President is the only one arbitrarily taking energy generation offline and hiking electricity costs.

During the last administration, the number of utility-scale electric power plants actually increased by over 2,000. We produced more energy than ever before. We have a commitment to serve the people that send us here and to help them lower their bills through rebates, through energy efficiency, through help for their pocketbooks, not the bottom line of polluters who have all too much power here on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Energy already has the authority under the Federal Power Act to prevent power plants from retiring if doing so would cause reliability problems. Republicans want to go further. This bill requires States to file reliability complaints 5 years before a generator retires. It is almost impossible to predict the impact of a plant retirement that far ahead.

This bill gives polluting plants a pass to ignore Federal, State, and local environmental laws. As we have already seen multiple times just this year, these plants aren't even reliable.

Mr. Speaker, we will have a whole lot more to say on this, but I really wish we would not waste people's time by coming here and making their lives more expensive at a time when they are clamoring for help on their groceries, on their healthcare, and on their electricity bills. Republicans brought a bill that actually hikes electricity and utility costs. They deserve so much better.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko), the ranking member of the Environment Subcommittee.

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

Mr. Speaker, I had a raised smile when I saw that poster, ``House Republicans are Strengthening the Electric Grid,'' because it is such a canard. It was just a few months ago where the Trump administration canceled hundreds of millions of dollars to modernize America's electric grid in red States and blue States. It was a complicated system of wires and transmission.

Mr. Speaker, you would think that, in a country such as ours, where we know electricity demand is going up, that one thing we could agree on investing in is modernizing our electric grid, but no. The Trump administration, just like they have taken a hatchet to cleaner, cheaper energy, has taken a hatchet to those hardworking people and the folks who keep the lights on for us.

Grid modernization is important, so the last thing Republicans and this administration are doing is strengthening the grid.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Scholten).

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

Mr. Speaker, I simply must call out some of the hypocrisy coming from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

We have watched over the past few months as electricity costs for hardworking Americans have gone up. People are asking why this is happening. We talked about the impact of the arbitrary tariffs that are raising the cost of living on everyone. The Republican policies in the big, ugly bill have taken a hatchet to cleaner, cheaper energy coming onto the grid.

When that is married up with the very significant project cancellations of the Department of Energy and across the administration, it comes to lost or delayed private investments of $53 billion; 324 projects canceled or delayed, or layoffs; over 24,000 megawatts lost that could have been coming onto the grid to keep prices lower. That adds up to over 13 million homes that could have had cleaner, cheaper energy powering them.

There is so much hypocrisy here in Washington right now. For decades, Republicans claimed to be the party of free markets and of business and competition. This bill is anti-competition. I remember a day when Republicans actually championed competition in the electricity sector. Those days are over, and that means that our neighbors back home are going to pay higher prices.

Today's bill has nothing to do with free markets. Instead, it is government intervention into the electricity sector that would make a Soviet planner blush. Instead of letting power plants compete to see who can deliver reliable power at lower costs, Republicans would instead establish a 5-year plan to mandate which power plants stay online and forcing Americans to pay the bill. This bill has more in common with Karl Marx and Chairman Mao than it does with the pre-Donald Trump Republican Party.

Mr. Speaker, we can't take our eye off the ball here. The reality is that the President promised to cut Americans' electricity bills. He promised that he would cut them in half by the time he was 1 year into his term.

Here we are, at the end of the year, and energy bills are up, way up, over 13 percent in many places. I think that is a failing grade. I think it speaks to the weakness of these arguments, as they try to paper over the struggles of American families and like to pretend that they are doing something, while we watch healthcare costs go way up and the costs of groceries weigh people down.

They want free markets when it means well for their fossil fuel allies, but they want government intervention and socialized costs the moment consumers might actually benefit from lower prices.

The hypocrisy here is just staggering.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for closing.

Mr. Speaker, this is a really tough time for the folks we represent back home. It is made worse by Trump's unfolding energy crisis. It is an affordability crisis.

Looking ahead, looking in the years ahead, I think my colleagues had a point: We are going to need more energy. So it makes no sense at all for Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration to take a hatchet to cleaner, cheaper energy that is poised to come on the grid, cancel projects, and throw people out of jobs.

I pointed out earlier that if you looked at the jobs report that came out this morning, manufacturing jobs were on their seventh month of decline. Part of that is because the Trump administration went into this year saying that we don't believe in solar power and wind power and storage and everything that makes your power more efficient. At the same time, they passed the big, ugly bill that rips away all sorts of cost-savers, like for families back home that are going to replace their heating and cooling system, a little bit of help in their pocketbook to do it in an affordable way.

Meanwhile, the President, what did he promise? He said: I am going to make life more affordable. But everything that they have done, whether it is arbitrary tariffs, canceling projects, killing jobs, now trying to pass bills that heap costs on our families back home, everything they have done has raised the cost of living.

I was flabbergasted when the President said: This whole affordability thing, it is a hoax. You tell that to the hardworking people back home going into the grocery store or the people now looking at their health insurance bill that this Congress refuses to solve. Then you bring a bill to the floor to add insult to injury, to make life even more expensive by making their utility bills more expensive? They are already up 13 percent on average across the country.

Ever since Republicans took the majority here, we have been waiting for one bill to lower the cost of living. We have nothing. Just this year, utilities have asked for $34 billion worth of rate increases. American families have each spent $1,200 more this year to fund Trump's tariffs. Electricity prices are up by 13 percent. Natural gas prices are up by 8 percent, and the big, ugly bill will increase electricity prices by 61 percent. American families simply cannot afford the weight of all of this any longer, and they deserve so much better.

What do the Republicans want to do today? They want to pass another bill that will increase prices by up to $6 billion each year. This is not a hoax. This is not a hoax. Instead, they offer a Christmas gift to the Nation's largest polluters.

But I guess Republicans in Congress just believe what the President said: Affordability is a hoax; nothing to see here.

Mr. Speaker, I want to be clear to all Americans. I don't care if you are a Democrat, a Republican, or Independent, how you are registered, we are going to stand up for you. We are going to fight back at every turn. We are going to fight for your pocketbook. We are not going to let them get away with this. We are actually going to do something about it because we know you deserve better. This is not a hoax.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Pallone for yielding the time.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3628. I think we all know that our neighbors are really struggling with higher electric bills. They are really grappling with how to pay these higher costs.

Household electricity prices across America are up by 13 percent this year--17 percent in North Carolina and 15 percent in the State of Georgia. Folks really are at their wits' end because it is all coming down at once.

In Florida, the three largest investor-owned utilities have requested $34 billion in price hikes this year. Last month, the DeSantis- appointed utility commission approved a $7 billion rate hike for Florida Power & Light customers. FPL customers will be paying much more over the next few years.

In Tampa, I was with some neighbors who were burning their electric bills, throwing them into a garbage can, lighting them on fire because they are struggling to keep the lights on. If you are a TECO customer, you are going to be paying about $939 more annually than you were 5 years ago.

Madam Speaker, folks back home are really wondering: Can Congress get its act together to help lower the cost of living and work on solutions? I hate to report that, no, Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration have shown no interest in doing that or in tackling lower electric bills. In fact, they are making it worse.

Electric bills are going up for a number of reasons. Let's talk about it.

There is the big, ugly bill that Republicans passed in July. That is projected to raise electricity rates by 61 percent. Why? They took away a lot of the tax credits to speed cheaper energy onto the grid. They ripped away rebates to help consumers save money on their electric bills. They canceled a lot of jobs that were helping people pay the bills.

Then when we add on the arbitrary tariffs of the Trump administration, that has a significant cost. Projections are that the average household is going to pay about $1,600 more per year. Some estimates are up to about $2,000 a year. That is, yes, on our coffee and groceries and consumer goods. It is also impacting electric bills. We do import poles and wires and energy, and that is raising electric bills, too.

The Trump administration has also canceled billions of dollars' worth of cheaper, cleaner energy projects and solar projects in every State. No one has been immune to this. That has also fed into skyrocketing electric bills. All of this adds up.

We are looking at a healthcare cliff in just another couple of weeks. Congress has only one more week to act to reinstitute the ACA tax credits. That is 4.5 million Floridians who will face higher healthcare bills, in addition to what they are doing to higher electric bills and our groceries. I would say to American families that they deserve so much better than they are getting here.

This bill, H.R. 3628, amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act to four States to favor more expensive, dirty energy over cleaner, cheaper energy. It is a ridiculous requirement that they want to add, and it directly conflicts with the provisions in the law right now that require States to maintain a diverse portfolio of electricity and engage in prudent resource planning.

Who loves this? Oil and gas companies love it. Investor-owned utilities love it. They will profit at the expense of hardworking Americans. Energy generated by wind, solar, and stored in batteries is often cheaper. It should make up a substantial portion of our electricity portfolio.

Madam Speaker, we need to lower electric bills by speeding cleaner and cheaper energy to the grid, especially to meet rising demand, and to do it while we protect clean air and clean water. America cannot afford to turn its back on half of all of the new electricity that is poised to come onto the grid over the next 5 years.

We need a modern transmission system and a modern electric grid. We need to speed up clean energy and not throw a wrench in it and make people pay more back home. They are already paying too much.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the South Tampa Chamber on its 100th anniversary. The South Tampa Chamber is a leader and positive force for the entire Tampa Bay area particularly small business owners and the military families who serve at MacDill Air Force Base. President Kelly Flannery, in particular, has helped lift the organization to one of the stellar``go to'' business organizations in Florida. The Chamber has devoted a century of commitment to community involvement, connection, and growth, and we plan to cherish the lasting partnerships created for generations to come.

The history of the South Tampa Chamber began as the Port Tampa Assembly of Businessmen in 1926 with a goal to strengthen the rapidly expanding relationship between commerce in the Port Tampa area and the community. The South Tampa Chamber called on local leaders to support efforts to expand transportation, improve infrastructure and economic prosperity. These efforts led to the development of the Port Tampa Chamber of Commerce and allowed for the expansion of the South Tampa Chamber.

Throughout the years, the Chamber evolved from the South Gandy Chamber of Commerce to what it is known as today, the South Tampa Chamber of Commerce. In 2017, the South Tampa Chamber became one of twenty chambers in the State of Florida designated as a Certified PLUS Chamber by the Florida Association of Chamber Professionals. This achievement is due to the dedication to work in the membership areas of programming, advocacy, and leadership and administration. These membership areas serve as a framework to guide a prospering community that may continue to contribute to the Tampa Bay area.

The South Tampa Chamber membership association comprises over 600 businesses, organizations, elected officials, and community leaders. Through collaboration with partnerships such as the MacDill Air Force Base for over 75 years, the South Tampa Chamber has been able to support our Military with special programs and initiatives. In 2018, the South Tampa Chamber was recognized as a Three-Star Chamber of Valor by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This award is recognized as the highest honor for local and state chambers for a demonstration of support to Military personnel and their family members.

Mr. Speaker, I am incredibly proud to support the network of individuals who foster a connection to community and success. On behalf of my neighbors of Tampa Bay, I am proud to congratulate the South Tampa Chamber on 100 years of exhibiting a forum for members to thrive through business partnerships and opportunities. It is dedicated business members, like those at the South Tampa Chamber, that make our Tampa Bay community a driving city for economic and local commerce growth. Our community is proud to have the South Tampa Chamber, and I applaud them on this incredible milestone of a century of members networking, conducting business, and enriching the South Tampa Community.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3109.

I know my Republican colleagues want to pretend that this is a simple, unbiased study bill, but it is not. The bill asks the National Petroleum Council, a council that is made up of members from the oil and gas industry, to create a report that says that the United States needs more oil and gas. I fear that what this is a recipe for is higher electric bills and higher costs for hardworking Americans who already are being crushed by higher bills.

There are unbiased public servants who could write this report--for example, at the Department of Energy--but, of course, Elon Musk and the Trump administration have pushed out more than 3,500 public servants there. As a result, the Department of Energy is in trouble. The Department has even had to ask external lawyers for things like defending against challenges relating to their illegal cancelations of projects across the country.

To bring this bill at a time when people really want to see the Congress work to solve problems, I think, demonstrates that Members are out of touch. It is part of a very disturbing Republican trend, led by the President, to purge the government of real experts and to slash and burn, like medical research, finding the cures and treatments that we need to survive and thrive; trying to illegally dismantle the Department of Education; and going after public health and really ruining a lot of the expert public health advice that helps keep our neighbors healthy and safe.

Then, here, when we are talking about oil and gas and their lobbyists, they are so firmly in control of the agenda here in the United States Congress. I just think my colleagues are not solving problems. Watching the President just remain out of touch is so painful to people back home that they feel betrayed.

Even during the Republican shutdown, was the President focused on trying to negotiate a solution there or trying to take us out of the healthcare crisis? No. He was giving the White House a makeover. He tore down the entire East Wing to make way for a 90,000-square-foot, $300 million ballroom, funded by corporations that have a lot to gain monetarily; and he had ``Great Gatsby'' parties at Mar-a-Lago with dancing girls. It is just mind-boggling.

Back to electric bills. Let's not forget that President Trump convened oil industry executives and lobbyists at his home last year to ask for $1 billion for his Presidential campaign. Well, now they are coming to collect.

Even after almost 2 months, when Speaker Johnson had the House of Representatives shut down because he didn't want to find a solution to rising healthcare costs and he wanted to avoid a vote to release the Epstein files, we could have been focusing on, behind the scenes, some ways to lower costs and solve real problems, but they continue to bring bills like this: a study on how we produce more oil and gas.

Here is the connection to higher bills. While they want to pad the profits of oil and gas companies, what they are doing to sabotage jobs and cleaner, cheaper energy now is showing up in people's electric bills, and they are angry.

I was with neighbors a couple of weeks ago who were burning their electric bills because costs are increasing so dramatically.

Why? On January 20, the President froze Federal leasing for wind projects and blocked permits for projects that had already been approved.

On February 5, the Army Corps of Engineers halted permits for 168 renewable energy projects on private lands.

In March, as part of his tariff war, he imposed a 10 percent tax on energy imported from Canada, hitting Midwestern States with higher gas prices.

In April, the Trump administration abruptly fired the entire staff overseeing the low-income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps working families afford their utility bills. Weeks later, the White House proposed cutting it entirely.

In May, the Secretary of Energy ordered an old Michigan coal plant to stay online, forcing the company to spend nearly $1 million a day. These are costs that are passed on to families across the Midwest.

In June, the Trump administration's EPA proposed a rule to allow coal and gas power plants to emit unlimited amounts of climate pollution, locking us into a dirtier and more expensive future.

In July, Republicans passed their big, ugly bill, which will saddle American families with price hikes of at least $110 next year and up to $4,000 annually within a decade.

In August, EPA announced an illegal cancellation of the $7 billion Solar for All Grant Initiative, which was intended to bring affordable energy to more than 900,000 hardworking American households.

In September, the Trump administration unveiled a more than $600 million bailout for coal plants to keep them online.

In October, while shutting down the government to deny Americans access to affordable healthcare, the White House tried to claw back billions in clean energy funds.

These actions are costly, and American families deserve better. We should be working together to solve problems and not wasting time on trying to figure out how we pad the profits of industries. Instead, we should be looking out for the pocketbooks of the people who sent us here. People deserve better. Hardworking Americans expect better of this Congress.

I hope that we can send a message on this bill and the next one that we are not going to put up with it anymore. We want real solutions to lower the cost of living.

Announcement By the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 1949. It is a harmful bill that demonstrates how Republicans in Congress continue to ignore the rising cost of living and inflation that is crushing American families and that they are willing to sell out American energy to our adversaries like the Chinese Community Party.

I know it wasn't even 2 weeks ago that President Trump said: I don't want to talk about affordability.

Well, we are going to talk about it, and we are going to stand up for people's pocketbooks at home.

This bill is just another example of how Republicans have not brought one single bill to the House floor that would lower energy costs for hardworking families.

Electricity bills are skyrocketing. It is getting harder and harder for people to pay their utility bills. Now Republicans and the Trump administration are making it worse. They have passed the big, ugly bill to rip away savings and rebates for cleaner, cheaper energy a few months ago and energy efficiency that keeps bills lower, all to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy and the well-connected.

Now they want to ramp up gas exports that will make life even more expensive. It wasn't even 1 year ago that the Department of Energy released its study that made it clear, continuing to approve gas exports would raise costs on U.S. households and businesses.

Don't just take it from me, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the Industrial Energy Consumers of America dated November 17, 2025.

Industrial Energy Consumers

of America,

Washington, DC, November 17, 2025.

Re H.R. 1949 the ``Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act

of 2025'' is Inconsistent with President Trump's Pledge

to Put America First

Hon. Mike Johnson,

Speaker of the House, House of Representatives, Washington,

They say this bill is inconsistent with the President's pledge to put America first, and it prioritizes gas exports over U.S. consumers by removing longstanding consumer protections. They urge everyone to oppose this bill and preserve those consumer protections.

Mr. Speaker, when you export more gas, that raises domestic gas prices, electricity prices, and the cost of manufactured goods. A vote for this bill is a vote to raise utility bills. That is particularly problematic to the neighbors back home I represent in the State of Florida. The State of Florida, the Sunshine State, you would think would be powered by the sun, Mr. Speaker, but we are 75 percent reliant on gas to generate electricity.

Now, Mr. Speaker, you are saying: Okay, Floridians, you are already being crushed by utility bills, and now Republicans are going to make it worse.

It is raising costs on all of us in more insidious ways too because we do have a climate crisis across the world. Mr. Speaker, when you are paying more to

address climate-fueled disasters caused by hurricanes, such as repairing your home, emergency response, and property insurance, then that is an additional cost.

Given that large methane and carbon dioxide emissions are emitted during fracking, pipeline transport, liquefaction, overseas shipping, and combustion, costs go up, and so do pollution and health risks, especially along the Gulf Coast.

Now, let's talk about point number two. Mr. Speaker, if higher costs in electric bills are not going to convince you to vote against this bill, then I hope that America's national security will. Republicans and the gas industry and their lobbyists want carte blanche to export gas to anyone, even our foreign adversaries.

Now, under current law, the U.S. Department of Energy is responsible for authorizing exports of domestically produced gas to foreign countries. In doing so, DOE makes a determination whether or not that export is consistent with the public interest. Republicans and the industry want to eliminate that important review, that even if the gas goes to the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign adversaries that is okay, there is no need to look and no need to review that. That is wrong and dangerous.

Aren't Republicans in Congress concerned that shipping American energy overseas to China to power their AI data centers and their manufacturing is a risk, an economic risk, and a military risk?

I also serve on the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. On that committee, we have heard over and over about the dangers of Chinese industrial dominance. They want to just kind of sweep up all natural resources across the globe for their economic and military advantage.

Why would Republicans in Congress be party to that?

Through this bill, House Republicans want to make it easier for China to import U.S. energy to power their industrial and military sectors.

Republicans have also enacted policies that wave a white flag to China on cleaner and cheaper energy, on electric vehicles, and on the next generation of energy manufacturing and technology, all evidenced by what they have done in gutting clean energy tax credits in manufacturing, in jobs, and in cost savings in their big, ugly bill.

Plus, it is hypocritical for Republicans to condemn Chinese forced labor, subsidies, and intellectual property theft on the one hand and then allow massive amounts of U.S. resources to flow to Chinese factories on the other hand.

These are not hypothetical concerns. In June, the President posted that hopefully China will be purchasing plenty of oil from the U.S.

Then, after meeting with President Xi in October, the President said that a very large-scale transaction may take place concerning the purchase of oil and gas from the great State of Alaska.

This is all too much. If these projects come online, then U.S. LNG would represent up to one-quarter of all of China's contracted LNG under the contracts that have already been entered into.

I urge my colleagues now to do the patriotic thing. Really, go ahead, and put America first for a change.

It is vitally important that energy export decisions benefit the American people, not our foreign adversaries. Exporting more LNG without guardrails does nothing to lower energy bills for hardworking families. In fact, it will make it worse, and people deserve better.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate Roosevelt Elementary School, celebrating its 100th year of educating the children of the Tampa Bay region. Roosevelt Elementary has not only been a champion for education but a fixture of the Tampa community, supporting academic excellence, character building, and community engagement. The Tampa Bay Community is forever grateful to have caring educators and a school like Roosevelt Elementary to teach the next generation of Floridians and bring together my neighbors across Tampa Bay.

The history of Roosevelt Elementary is the history of the City of Tampa. Theodore Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy when the U.S.S. Maine was sunk in Havana Harbor. When the Spanish-American War began, Roosevelt resigned his position and joined the military. Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt recruited volunteers to serve in the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, which soon became known as the Rough Riders. In June of 1898, Roosevelt and the Rough Riders camped in Tampa for two weeks before they headed south to Cuba and became famous for their charge up Cuba's San Juan Hill. The Rough Riders were brave men fighting to achieve an independent Cuba, something Tampa's large Cuban immigrant population had sought for so long.

Roosevelt Elementary was constructed in 1925 and carries with it the ambitious spirit of the Rough Riders. It promotes academic excellence and works closely with the Tampa Bay Rough Riders, a nonprofit organization that celebrates the regiment and Tampa's contribution to the Spanish-American War through patriotic and civic activities throughout the Tampa Bay Region. Roosevelt Elementary partners regularly with the Rough Riders to foster a love and understanding of community service in students.

Roosevelt Elementary is listed in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, honoring the cornerstone Roosevelt has become to our community and its place in the history of Tampa. Roosevelt Elementary is a Grade A school, a success that is a collective achievement, says Principal Denise Wheatley. It is the dedication by both students and teachers, and the investment by families and community partners, that make Roosevelt the thriving educational institution it is to this day. Principal Wheatley calls on all to ``continue to embody the spirit of the Rough Riders.'' Through this collaboration of partners inside and outside of the classroom, Roosevelt will continue to thrive as a place where every student feels valued, supported, and inspired to achieve their fullest potential.

Mr. Speaker, I am incredibly proud to support the high-quality public schools and talented teachers found in Hillsborough County. On behalf of my neighbors in Tampa Bay, I am proud to congratulate Roosevelt Elementary on 100 years of educating Florida's youngest generation. It is dedicated educators like those at Roosevelt, and the committed community that foster the Rough Rider spirit, that make our Tampa Bay community the welcoming place it is today. Our community is so proud of institutions like Roosevelt, and I applaud them on this tremendous milestone of a century of learning, service, and school spirit.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding the time.

Mr. Speaker, here we are 9 months into the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress, despite their promises, have done nothing to lower energy costs. In fact, costs keep going up, up, and up, and the GOP policies are making it worse. I have to say that Americans deserve a whole lot better.

We understand that the impact of the big, ugly bill passed a couple months ago is going to raise the cost of living on hardworking families across the country. There has been a lot of attention on healthcare costs in the State of Florida because the Republicans would not reinstate the cost-saving and lifesaving tax credits. Millions of Floridians, like many more across America, are facing higher healthcare costs.

What wasn't covered as much in the big, ugly bill and its impact is what it is going to do to drive up people's electric bill. Already, this year, household electricity prices are up 10 percent. One in three households is cutting back on necessities, like groceries, to afford their energy bills.

Three in four Americans are concerned with their utility bills increasing, and they should be because at least 102 gas and electric utilities have either raised or proposed higher rates that will go into effect next year.

Here is the proof. Here is a report from September of this year: ``Residents in at Least 41 States and Washington, D.C., Are Facing Increased Electric and Natural Gas Bills.''

``Utilities are increasing prices for customers across the country.'' Including all the way through to 2028, monthly residential bill impacts are going to be rough.

Here is another from PowerLines from July 2025: `` `Utility bills are rising.' Q2 2025 Update.''

``Utility rate increases requested and approved totaled $9 billion in Q2 2025 and $29 billion in the first half of 2025, making 2025 a record year for utility rate increases.''

In my home State of Florida, the largest power provider has requested the largest rate hike in history--$10 billion for most of the counties in the State.

Here is an article I will submit for the Record from this month from the Energy & Policy Institute: ``Key decisions loom in Florida Power and Light's historic bid to raise rates by $10 billion.''

I include the links to these three items in the Record:

Https://powerlines.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/ 0709_PowerLines_Rising-Utility-Bills-Q2-Update-2.pdf

Https://energyandpolicy.org/key-decisions-loom-in-fpl-historic-bid- to-raise-rates

Https://www.americanprogress.org/ article/residents-in-at-least-41-states-and-washington-d-c-are-facing- increased-electric-and-natural-gas-bills

Mr. Speaker, the big, ugly bill is having a very harsh impact on the bottom lines of hardworking families, and now Republicans want to offer a package of bills that is going to make it worse, add insult to injury.

They just can't stop providing solace for polluters. They have already gutted a lot of the tools that make energy more affordable, like clean energy tax credits, like trying to save on energy efficiency and things like that. However, what also adds insult to injury is--and I don't know why, but if Republicans are talking about they believe in fairness, they believe in permitting, they believe that we need all of the power generation we possibly can make, why do they stand idly by while the Trump administration wages war on a clean energy power source? Many of them are already permitted and constructed.

In April, the administration issued a stop-work order for the Empire Wind offshore wind project surrounding New York. Even though the order was lifted in May, that delay cost the developer $955 million.

The President is actively trying to revoke permits for the Revolution Wind project, which was fully permitted and 80 percent complete, supporting more than 2,500 U.S. jobs across

construction, operations, shipbuilding, manufacturing. The project was just steps away from powering more than 350,000 homes in Rhode Island and Connecticut, but now that is at risk, so they are facing much higher bills.

Just last week, the Interior Department asked a judge to cancel approval of the Maryland Offshore Wind project, a project over a decade in the making that had received all of its final permits from multiple Federal agencies and was expected to power over 700,000 homes.

This just doesn't make sense to bring a package of bills and say: Oh, we are really concerned. They are not concerned. Rates are going up. They are canceling projects. They are throwing wrenches into cleaner, cheaper energy. This is really a giveaway to the fossil fuel companies. What other explanation can there be to sock it to hardworking people who need a break?

They need a break. Groceries are too high. Their healthcare is being taken away, and now they are raising the rates of their utility bills.

Mr. Speaker, I am all for cutting red tape, but what is happening here is detrimental to the folks we represent back home. It is not fair. It is not right. We need to do everything we can. These bills, this bill doesn't meet the moment. It is going to keep electricity bills going up, up, and up. I urge my colleagues to vote against this bill and get back to work on serious solutions for people's pocketbooks.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3015.

This bears repeating again: Here we are, 9 months into the new administration and a new Congress, and Republicans have not brought one bill to the floor of the House that will help tackle the cost-of-living squeeze and the affordability crisis.

Folks back home really need help. They are paying more on their groceries despite all the promises, more on their electricity, and now are facing huge increases to the cost of healthcare. It is really not fair.

Now, let's get back to household electricity. Prices are up 10 percent this year. One in three households is cutting back on basic necessities just to pay their rising electric bill. People are very concerned, and they should be, because over 100 gas and electric utilities are proposing higher rates this year.

Mr. Speaker, you know very well that we are grappling in Florida where the largest utility has requested what looks like the largest rate increase in the history of the country. I hear my good friend, the chairman of the committee, talk about this. They care a lot about consumer costs, but their rhetoric does not match their record.

Example number one is the big, ugly bill. I will offer for the Record an analysis by Energy Innovation of the big, ugly bill where they say, ``The bill will reduce additions of new cost-effective electricity capacity, raising power prices for consumers, and decreasing U.S. GDP . . .'' which will hamper development of domestic electricity generation capacity, and by 2035, we forecast a 340 gigawatt decrease in generation capacity due to the bill. As a result, this bill will make it more expensive to meet growing demand in the next 5 critical years in the global artificial intelligence race damaging U.S. competitiveness.

Mr. Speaker, the links for this analysis and two other analyses are as follows:

Https://energyinnovation.org/wp- content/uploads/One-Big-Beautiful- Bill-Senate-Reconciliation- Analysis_July-2025.pdf

Https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/grid- strategies_cost-of-federal-mandates-to-retain-fossil- burning-power-plants.pdf

Https://energyinnovation.org/wp- content/uploads/Coal-Cost-Update.pdf

Mr. Speaker, we cannot win the AI race of the 21st century with energy policies from the 20th century. Not only is it bad policy, but it is soul crushingly expensive to do so.

Hardworking American families are just looking up here to Washington and saying: Can you all please focus on solutions and not cater to the polluters and the folks who have all too much power here in the Halls of Congress? It is not fair.

This bill is an example of not only is it a waste of time, because here is the secret: This bill is asking for a coal council. I think the ranking member already went to it. The President has already established a coal council, so we don't really even need that.

The real impact is going to be on the bottom line, and let's look at one example of why this is going to cost everybody more. In May, just days before the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant was set to close, the Trump administration issued a last-minute order to force the plant to stay open.

We won't even talk about how the Trump administration has pulled permits of fully permitted and almost fully constructed offshore wind projects. We will put that aside. However, to keep the Campbell plant open, the administration cited a so-called grid reliability emergency, but they produced no actual evidence of any kind of emergency. Since their order, the Department hasn't appointed to a single instance where the plant was needed to keep the lights on.

Remember, Mr. Speaker, nobody was asking for this. The company that owns and runs the plant wanted to close it and shift to a mix of energy sources. The plant is losing money, and the administration is now forcing the company to spend nearly $1 million a day to keep it open.

Who will pay the cost of that?

It will be these families across the Midwest, and the Trump administration looks to force the old, uneconomical fossil fuel plants to continue operating past their plan retirement dates nationwide. We estimate that this looks like the cost to the consumer could reach $3 billion a year by 2028.

People can't afford that, and they don't deserve that. Don't forget, Mr. Speaker, the big, ugly bill. If you add what they are doing by enforcing uneconomical plants to stay online so consumers pay the cost, with the big, ugly bill, you are taking away clean energy incentives, cheaper and cheaper energy, and you are asking consumers to pay the cost of what utilities are. Everyone is grappling with these arbitrary Trump tariffs.

This is not fair, and Republicans say we need to keep coal plants online so that the so-called dispatchable resources to meet growing electricity demands will help with the artificial intelligence race with China. However, they are clearly confused about the difference between reliable and dispatchable power. Reliability is not just about being dispatchable. It is about delivering performance under stress.

Here is the truth: Coal-fired power plants are not reliable. They are inflexible. They are outdated. It is outdated technology that actually threatens grid reliability and resilience.

Most of our coal fleet was built in the 1970s and eighties, and years of use has led to a rise in unplanned outages. PJM has capacity accreditation of coal plants at just 83 percent. The Colstrip Coal Mine in Montana is accredited at only 54 percent. That means it is effectively unavailable nearly one-half of the time that it is needed.

As noted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, large voltage-sensitive loads like data centers require flexible, responsible grid solutions, not slow-ramping generators that can take up to 12 or more hours to come online. Coal plants are inherently inflexible, and that worsens grid congestion. By forcing coal plants to stay online, we are occupying our limited transmission capacity with inflexible generation. That prevents cheaper and cleaner resources from being delivered.

This is a real concern. Independent market monitors in the Midwest have found that congestion-related market distortions have cost customers over $1 billion a year.

That is not fair. This is the United States of America. We are about innovation. We are about modern technology. We are not about looking backwards. If Republicans were serious about meeting energy demand and keeping customer bills low, empowering artificial intelligence, then they would look to real solutions, energy efficiency, virtual power plants, grid-enhancing technologies, batteries, and more.

However, Mr. Speaker, if you keep looking backwards, then we simply will not be able to meet the moment and meet the growing demand that is forecast.

American businesses should not be left holding the bag with higher bills because the majority refuses to march forward in the 21st century on what we need to do on power production and tapping the great innovators across this country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote against this very costly bill. This entire package is another cost raiser for families back home that they don't deserve. Please vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding the time.

I rise in opposition to H.R. 1047. It is a bill that will give polluting gas plants an unfair and costly shortcut to the electric grid while doing nothing to protect working families from rising energy costs.

This is an unfortunate theme this Congress. Despite the promises of the President and my Republican colleagues in Congress, they haven't brought any bill that will help address the affordability squeeze. Right now, as we debate this package of energy bills, there is a big discussion going on about the Republican budget that is coming to the floor likely tomorrow, and Democrats are here to say we are going to fight to protect Americans' pocketbooks. We want lower costs.

We know the impact of the big, ugly bill was to raise healthcare costs and to raise energy bills. It is really time that the average working American get a break for a change. We want to cancel the cuts of the ACA. The Affordable Care Act tax credits are a pathway to affordability and lifesaving care, and it appears that the Republicans are going to refuse to reinstate those tax credits. We want to fight to lower costs, to protect Medicaid, to save healthcare. This is the larger context of this debate on energy bills, as well.

This bill is a good example. You can peer into Congress and say, okay, who is fighting for me. This GRID Power Act is unnecessary. What has been happening is that cleaner, cheaper sources of energy are waiting to come onto the grid, and the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress now are throwing up as many barriers as possible because they are on the side of the polluters.

You can see, we had a coal bill. This is a gas bill. What about the cleaner, cheaper energy that is waiting right now to come onto the queue? They are throwing barriers up to getting those cost savings to hardworking families. This does nothing to ensure a reliable grid, which is so vitally important at a time of more extreme events.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has the power already to approve changes to the interconnection queue process. That is a funny term for how we bring sources of energy onto the grid, this disjointed grid across the country. FERC can prioritize what power sources come onto the grid when it deems necessary. You don't need to give an unfair costly shortcut to gas plants.

These kind of decisions on how we are going to power our lives and connect resources to the grid, these are very complex decisions, and you want robust analysis. You want an independent FERC fully staffed with experts to make these decisions in partnership with local grid operators, clearly, because FERC already has the authority to do a lot of this as long as it is supported by evidence.

This Republican bill says: Forget the evidence. We are just going to give this fast-pass to gas companies. It allows them to cut in line, and that is unfair. What they should be doing is speeding the cleaner, cheaper resources to the grid, giving them a fair shot to do it.

We had a committee meeting in the Energy Subcommittee this week, and we had the acting general counsel from the Department of Energy appear before us. Just to show you the fast-pass that polluters and gas companies are getting, we asked him about the Energy Secretary's trip overseas to try to sell more natural gas from Americans. I asked him: Well, have you done any analysis on this to show that that is not going to raise costs on American ratepayers and consumers?

He said: No, not that I know of.

If you keep pushing exports of our energy resources, what happens to the costs for hardworking families here, and what happens to domestic businesses as those resources go elsewhere, as well?

One of FERC's responsibilities is to keep prices affordable. That is made possible by competition. You want this resource to be as resource neutral as much as possible. If you don't believe in neutrality, what you are going to do? You are going to stifle American innovation and entrepreneurship.

When you talk about reliability, it isn't a description of an individual generator, but rather it is an attribute that applies to the entire grid across the country. It is not a given that additional dispatchable resources aid reliability themselves. You have to rely on a mix of generation, different fuels, and wires to make sure everyone can get the power they need all the time.

When you put your finger on the scale of a certain power source and then put barriers to others, especially cleaner, cheaper sources, that is just a recipe for higher costs for businesses and consumers alike.

When this bill came before our committee, I had an answer to a lot of this dysfunction about how we expedite resources to the grid. My amendment said that for any projects that are prioritized in the interconnection queue by this bill, if you are going to expedite them, then we want to see proof that they are coming online within 4 years.

My Republican colleagues didn't want to shine the light on the gas plants that can't come online in 4 years, and they all voted down my amendment.

If they are genuinely concerned about meeting demand growth in the

next 4 years and genuinely believe that gas is going to do that, they could have agreed to this amendment, but everyone voted it down.

Here is the dirty little secret that everyone in the energy industry knows right now, but Republicans are glossing over: There is a critical shortage of gas turbines. That means the cost of gas plants is already facing inflationary pressures. Those inflationary pressures, who are they passed on to? They are passed on to consumers back home, to hardworking American families. If you haven't ordered your gas turbine now, you are not getting it this decade.

The only way we are going to meet growing electricity demand in the next few years is through cleaner, cheaper power that is waiting to come onto the grid--wind, batteries, distributed energy sources, demand response, grid-enhancing technologies, and other solutions.

This is an incoherent energy policy from the Trump administration. You say you want more power. We need more power. We have AI data centers, but let's kill the offshore wind projects. Let's create barriers to getting sources of energy onto the grid that are ready to come onto the grid, and let's make life more expensive for hardworking people because we are going to say, no, only gas plants get that fast pass, but we don't have the turbines and the infrastructure to get them on the grid.

That is incoherent. That means that it is going to be costly, and that is the last thing that our neighbors need back home. They want people working together on solutions.

Ripping healthcare away, making healthcare coverage more expensive, and making electric bills more expensive, all of these policies are unpopular. I wish we could get back to working together on real solutions for the American people. I believe they need relief from the cost of living, and we should be working together to get there.

Mr. Speaker, let's reject this bill and get back to working on those solutions together.

Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to recognize the ten inventors who have been selected as the 2025 Inductees to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. Peers nationwide nominate inventors who then undergo and the scrutiny of the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame Selection Committee. As a result, their innovations have been identified as significantly affecting the quality of life, economic development and welfare of their communities, my Tampa Bay neighbors and the United States.

The Florida Inventors Hall of Fame was founded in 2013 at the University of South Florida. It was recognized by the Florida Senate with Senate Resolution 1756, adopted on April 30, 2014. The Florida Inventors Hall of Fame catalyzes the cycle of discovery and innovation across the state of Florida by recognizing pioneering inventors, empowering future problem-solvers and change-makers and propelling the American legacy of innovation through transformative experiences and meaningful narratives.

Nomination to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame is open to all Florida inventors, living or deceased, who are or have been residents of Florida. The nominee must be a named inventor on a patent issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The impact of the inventor and their invention(s) should be significant to society, and the invention should have been commercialized, utilized or led to important innovations.

The 2025 Inductees are the 11th class to be inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. Their achievements underscore the critical role that innovation plays in driving progress and improving the quality of life for people in our state, our Nation and around the world. Their groundbreaking work not only advances scientific discovery but also strengthens the economy and enhances our global competitiveness. The 2025 Inductees collectively hold more than 460 U.S. patents and come from across industry and academia. Since its founding, the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame has inducted 87 inventors, who collectively hold over 5,700 U.S. patents.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my neighbors in Tampa Bay and the citizens of Florida, I am proud to honor the 2025 Inductees to the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame for this outstanding achievement. Innovation and invention are the building blocks of our Nation. I applaud these highly accomplished individuals and the organizations that support them in their quest to change the world in ways that truly benefit humanity. It is because of the perseverance of these inventors that future generations are inspired to reach beyond their limits and push the boundaries of innovation.

I include in the Record the 2025 Inductees:

Cleopatra ``Cleo'' Cabuz: Retired Vice President of

Technology and Partnerships, in Honeywell's Safety and

Productivity Solutions, who is recognized for significant

contributions to the field of Micro Electro Mechanical

Systems (MEMS) and integrated systems for medical and

industrial safety applications. Her innovations in

miniaturized flow cytometry, including disposable cartridges,

laid the foundation for the ImmuneIQ product line, enabling

point-of-care diagnostics for immune diseases.

Michael Francis: CEO and founder of Asante Bio and

Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports

Medicine at the University of South Florida, who is

recognized for pioneering innovations and clinical

translation of transformative medical devices and biologics

across the fields of orthopedics and sports medicine via

advanced regenerative medicine, biomanufacturing, additive

manufacturing, biomaterials, collagen-based tissue

engineering and electrospun nanofiber technologies.

Joseph Iannotti: Chief Research and Academic Officer and

Lang Family Endowed Chair of Orthopaedic Research at the

Cleveland Clinic Florida, and Professor of Surgery and

Biomedical Engineering at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College

of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, who is

recognized for advanced discovery and innovation in shoulder

surgery for preoperative planning software and patient

specific instrumentation, soft tissue engineering, and

implant devices and instrumentation.

Hari Kalva: Chair and Professor in the Department of

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Florida

Atlantic University, who is recognized for pioneering

innovations in video compression and multimedia

communication, and video analytics that enable efficient

digital video delivery across devices worldwide, transforming

how the world experiences visual media.

Nasser Kutkut: Founder & CEO of Smart Charging Technologies

LLC and Former CTO of Advanced Charging Technologies Inc.,

who is recognized for pioneering advances in industrial

electric vehicle battery charging and the development and

commercialization of novel fast charging and battery

management technologies for motive power applications

delivering substantial energy savings and reductions in

carbon emissions.

Richard McCullough: the 16th President of Florida State

University and former professor of materials science and

engineering at Harvard University who is recognized for

pioneering the discovery of regioregular polythiophenes, a

revolutionary class of conjugated polymers that is

foundational to printable electronic materials and organic

semiconductors. He also discovered a new class of reactive

metal inks.

Sumita Mitra: Partner and Co-Owner of Mitra Chemical

Consulting, Retired Corporate Scientist at 3M Dental Products

Division and Professor in the Institute for Advanced

Discovery & Innovation at the University of South Florida,

who is recognized for inventing the first dental filling

material with nanoparticles, and revolutionizing restorative

dentistry with stronger, more durable, and aesthetically

advanced solutions that have benefited millions worldwide.

Subhra Mohapatra: Professor of Molecular Medicine at the

University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine,

Research Career Scientist at the James A. Haley Veterans

Hospital, and Co-Founder of TransGenex Nanobiotech Inc., who

is recognized for distinguished contributions and pioneering

developments in cellular and molecular engineering and

nanoscale drug delivery technologies, especially advancing

detection and treatment of cancers and neurodegenerative

diseases.

Edward Rosenthal: CEO and Co-Founder of Florikan ESA, who

is recognized for pioneering staged nutrient release (SNR)

encapsulated fertilizers that match plant growth cycles to

optimize nutrient delivery while enhancing environmental

stewardship and sustainable agriculture. Florikan's SNR

technology is now the sole fertilizer used on the

International Space Station as part of NASA's Veggie and

Advanced Plant Habitat program.

W. Greg Sawyer: Chief BioEngineering Officer and Chair in

the Department of BioEngineering at Moffitt Cancer Center,

who is recognized for pioneering inventions in biomedical

engineering, cancer engineering and tribology that have

revolutionized medical devices, prosthetics and implants,

contact lenses, cancer research and regenerative medicine

while advancing Florida's innovation ecosystem.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member for yielding me time and thank her for everything that she does to protect the pocketbooks of American families.

Mr. Chairman, American families and small business owners deserve lower electric bills, but Republicans in Congress are really sticking it to folks with higher costs at every turn, especially in this spending bill.

Mr. Chairman, Representative Kaptur is right. Household electric costs and energy prices have risen 10 percent this year. In some places, they have more than doubled, driven by Trump's tariffs; new demand from Big Tech AI data centers; and expensive, old, polluting plants.

Back home in Florida, Florida's largest utility has proposed the largest utility rate hike in U.S. history, amounting to $10 billion, that will raise Floridians' electric bills by hundreds of dollars every month.

Mr. Chair, Republicans in Congress are now making it worse. Their big, ugly bill, which was passed in July, already is projected to crush working families with higher costs, and now their spending bill adds insult to injury by slashing home improvement weatherization savings.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentlewoman for the time.

Let's talk about how Republicans in Congress are making it worse, harder for families to afford the cost of living, especially when it comes to their electric bills. Their big, ugly bill, which was passed in July, already is projected to crush working families with higher costs.

Mr. Chair, this spending bill adds insult to injury by slashing home improvement weatherization savings and taking a hatchet to cleaner, cheaper energy and the important initiatives to modernize the grid.

If my colleagues care about helping their neighbors out of the affordability squeeze, they will vote ``no'' on the Republican spending bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the career and contributions of Mary Bryan, a spirited and dedicated public servant whose love of the City of Tampa knows no bounds. Mary served her Tampa neighbors for over 63 years, which began after her high school graduation in 1962. She holds the record for the longest-serving employee of the City of Tampa. I congratulate Mary on an incredible career and thank her for her unwavering dedication to the Tampa Bay Community.

Mary began her career in the early redevelopment office of Urban Renewal in 1962 and remained there until 1972. She assisted in the first wave of City of Tampa renewal and redevelopment programs. She continued her work in the housing, code enforcement and zoning department before beginning in the city attorney's office. Mary was the principal and trusted grants writer responsible for awards totaling in the tens of millions of dollars to the city annually.

Mary served under 11 mayors and 59 city council members, and she has helped Tampa Bay grow into the thriving community it is today. Mary worked in the legal department as City Attorney James Palermo's Assistant until 2011. She then returned as the legislative aide to City Council member Charlie Miranda, where she will finish out her tenure as a City of Tampa employee.

Serving as an aide to Charlie Miranda, Mary garnered a reputation that no constituent request was out of reach. From potholes to a noisy neighbor, she ensured that everyone's requests were accounted for. Mary is known for her vast institutional knowledge, willingness to help and tenacity. She was known for calling up an administrator and speaking plainly, cutting through red tape to make sure the job at hand got done in a timely manner.

In 2023, Mayor Castor awarded Mary the Josephine Howard Stafford Memorial Award, an award given to a woman employed by the City of Tampa who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to her position and community. Mayor Castor has commented that, ``There's rarely a night I go home and it's not dark outside, and if there is another car in the lot, it's Mary's.''

For over the past twenty years, Mary has also set up the holiday decorations at Old City Hall. Even through her hard work, she always made time to spread cheer.

Mary's colleagues say she is not only an effective fighter, but her dedication reflects deep care for her neighbors. Occasionally when residents have appeared before the city council, some have felt intimidated by a list of suits and procedural rules. She has, at times, held people's hands to help them navigate city-level bureaucracy. Stephen Michelins, a city planner in the 1970's, said, ``When people would get stuck, she'll go out in the audience and grab them and say, `Come here.' She's been the friend of thousands.''

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my neighbors in Tampa Bay and the citizens of Florida, I am proud to honor Mary Bryan for her service to the City of Tampa. Mary dedicated her life ensuring that everyone had a place in Tampa Bay. It is hard-working and selfless public servants like Mary that make Tampa the welcoming and generous place it is today. Our community is eternally grateful for Mary's immense contributions.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 170 inventors who will be inducted as the 2024 Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). An induction ceremony will take place June 23-26, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia to celebrate these inventors and their incredible accomplishments. The ceremony will be presided over by the Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Coke Morgan Stewart, and President of the National Academy of Inventors, Dr. Paul R. Sanberg. To be named as a Fellow, these individuals were nominated by their peers and underwent a review process by the NAI Selection Committee, which ultimately deemed their innovations as making a significant impact on the quality of life, economic development and the welfare of their communities, the residents of Florida and the United States.

The NAI Fellow program has 2,068 Fellows worldwide representing more than 300 prestigious universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes. Collectively, the Fellows hold more than 68,000 issued U.S. patents, which have generated over 20,000 licensed technologies, 4,000 companies and created more than 1.2 million jobs. In addition, over $3.2 trillion in revenue has been generated based on NAI Fellow discoveries.

Among NAI fellows, there are more than 170 senior leaders of research universities and nonprofit research institutes, over 755 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, 63 inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, 70 recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation and U.S. National Medal of Science, 57 Nobel Laureates, over 533 AAAS Fellows, over 395 IEEE Fellows and more than 232 Fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, among other awards and distinctions.

Founded by Dr. Paul R. Sanberg at the University of South Florida in 2010, the NAI's mission is to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate, and mentor innovative students and translate the inventions of its members to benefit Florida and communities all throughout the United States. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my neighbors in Tampa Bay and the citizens of Florida, I am proud to honor the 2024 Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors for this outstanding achievement. We owe a debt of gratitude to these inventors for their invaluable contributions to society, which continually propel us forward. May their example inspire future generations to pursue their own paths of discovery and innovation, ensuring a bright and innovative future for us all. I include in the Record the 2024 National Academy of Inventors Fellows Class:

Ishwar Aggarwall, The University of North Carolina at

Charlotte; Pierre Agostini, The Ohio State University; Mark

Akeson, University of California, Santa Cruz; Yousef Al-Abed,

The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research; Herb

Aldwinckle, Cornell University; Dan Ammon Jr., University at

Buffalo, The State University of New York; Alain Aspect,

Institut d'Optique Graduate School; Corinne E. Augelli-

Szafran, Southern Research Institute; Clinton Ballinger,

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Robeit S. Balog, Texas A&M

University; Prith Banerjee, University of Illinois at

Chicago; Ronald Barrett-Gonzalez, University of Kansas,

Robert Bartlett, University of Michigan; Peter J. Basser,

National Institutes of Health; Moungi Bawendi, Massachusetts

Institute of Technology; Dibakar Bhattacharyya, University of

Kentucky; Pratim Biswas, University of Miami; Silvia Blemker,

University of Virginia; William Branch, University of

Georgia; Malcolm Brenner, Baylor College of Medicine; Richard

K. Brow, Missouri University of Science and Technology; Edgar

B. Cahoon, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Jianfeng Ca,

University of South Florida; Hui Cao, Yale University; Arnold

Caplan, Case Western Reserve University; John M. Cioffi,

Stanford University; Corie L. Cobb, University of Washington.

Eric W. Cochran, Iowa State University; Daniel Codd,

University of San Diego; Todd J. Cohen, New York Institute of

Technology; Bruce N. Cronstein, New York University Grossman

School of Medicine; Maria Croyle, The University of Texas at

Austin; Anthony Czarnik, University of Nevada, Reno; Arvin

Dar, Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute Cancer Center;

Matthew Darr, Iowa State University; Hiranmoy Das, Texas Tech

University Health Sciences Center; Kenneth Dawson-Scully,

Nova Southeastern University; Edward J. Delp, Purdue

University; Horacio Dante Espinosa, Northwestern University;

Ying Fang, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Aaron

Franklin, Duke University; Eby Friedman, University of

Rochester; Klaus Fruh, Oregon Health & Science University;

Lilit Garibyan, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard

University; Robert Garry, Tulane University; Manas Ranjan

Gartia, Louisiana State University; Arun K. Ghosh, Purdue

University; Simon Francis Giszter, Drexel University; Steven

Goldman, University of Rochester; Andrea Goldsmith, Princeton

University; David Gracias, Johns Hopkins University; Joel S.

Greenberger, University of Pittsburgh; Jaime Grunlan, Texas

A&M University; Ephraim Gutmark, University of Cincinnati.

Keith Hearon, Boston University; Larry Heck, Georgia

Institute of Technology; Wolfgang Heidrich, King Abdullah

University of Science and Technology; Joseph P. Heremans, The

Ohio State University; Mark Hoffman, University of Missouri-

Kansas City; Kaibin Huang, The University of Hong Kong;

Bertram Jacobs, Arizona State University; Hamid Jafarkhani,

University of California, Irvine; Shibin Jiang, The

University of Arizona; Christopher S. Johnson, Argonne

National Laboratory; Sergei V. Kalinin, University of

Tennessee, Knoxville/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory;

Homayoon Kazerooni, University of California, Berkeley; Brian

G. Kiernan, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Steven

Koester, University of Minnesota; Johann Walter Kolar, ETH

Zurich--Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich; Farinaz

Koushanfar, University of California, San Diego; Ferenc

Krausz, Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Garching,

Germany; Ashok Kumar, University of South Florida; Eren

Kurshan, Princeton University; Ioannis Kymissis, Columbia

University; Klaus Lackner, Arizona State University; Gregory

Lanza, Washington University in St. Louis; Matthew Laskoski,

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory; Chih-Kung Lee, National

Taiwan University.

Hui (Helen) Li, Florida State University; Hai Li, Duke

University; Wenbin Lin, University of Chicago; Walter Ian

Lipkin, Columbia University; Xuedong Liu, University of

Colorado Boulder; Devinder Mahajan, Stony Brook University;

Abhijit Mahalanobis, The University of Arizona; Stanton F.

McHardy, The University of Texas at San Antonio; Michael

McLaughlin, The University of Adelaide; Shawn A.

Mehlenbacher, Oregon State University; Charles L. Melcher,

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Tommaso Melodia,

Northeastern University; Rajesh Menon, The University of

Utah; Theodore Moise, The University of Texas at Dallas;

David Morse, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research

Institute; Javad Mostaghimi, University of Toronto; Naima

Moustaid-Moussa, Texas Tech University; Christopher Murray,

University of Pennsylvania; Tina M. Nenoff, Sandia National

Laboratories; Gabriele Neumann, University of Wisconsin-

Madison; Kytai T. Nguyen, The University of Texas at

Arlington; Michael Niederweis, The University of Alabama at

Birmingham; Thomas Nosker, Rutgers, The State University of

New Jersey; Rafail Ostrovsky, University of California, Los

Angeles.

Cynthia Owsley, The University of Alabama at Birmingham;

Cengiz Ozkan, University of California, Riverside; Makarand

Paranjape, Georgetown University; Dan Peer, Tel Aviv

University; Yuri Karl Peterson, Medical University of South

Carolina; Konstantin Petrukhin, Columbia University;

Wellington Pham, Vanderbilt University; Edwin Piner, Texas

State University; Darrin Pochan, University of Delaware;

Francisco Quintana, Harvard University; Muhammad Rabnawaz,

Michigan State University; P. Srirama Rao, Virginia

Commonwealth University; Ramesh Raskar, Massachusetts

Institute of Technology; Edward Ratner, University of

Houston; Jeff Reed, Virginia Tech; Fan Ren, University of

Florida; Catherine L. Riddle, Idaho National Laboratory;

Guillermo Risatti, University of Connecticut; Carol Robinson,

University of Oxford; Cliona Mary Rooney, Baylor College of

Medicine; Alberto Salleo, Stanford University; Richard

Samulski, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;

Gaurav N. Sant, University of

California, Los Angeles; Edward Sargent, Northwestern

University; Charles Shoemaker, Tufts University; Daniel

Siegwart, UT Southwestern Medical Center; Neal Sikka, The

George Washington University; Blake Simmons, Lawrence

Berkeley National Laboratory.

Rajesh Singh, Morehouse School of Medicine; Anand

Sivasubramaniam, The Pennsylvania State University; Yiqiao

Song, Harvard University; Vivek Sujan, Oak Ridge National

Laboratory; Zhaoli Sun, Johns Hopkins University; Nian Sun,

Northeastern University; Yang Tao, University of Maryland,

College Park; Ravi Thadhani, Emory University; Voon-Yew

(Aaron) Thean, National University of Singapore; Ashley

Parkinson Thrall, University of Notre Dame; Martin Thuo,

North Carolina State University; Theo T. Tsotsis, University

of Southern California; Francisco Valero-Cuevas, University

of Southern California; Omid Veiseh, Rice University; Victor

Veliadis, North Carolina State University; Uzi Vishkin,

University of Maryland, College Park; Edmund Waller, Emory

University; Angela Wandinger-Ness, The University of New

Mexico; Guoan Wang, University of South Carolina; Grace J.

Wang, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; Dean C. Webster, North

Dakota State University; Di Wei, University of Cambridge;

Marc Steven Weinberg, Draper Laboratory (CDSL), Ulrich

Wiesner, Cornell University; Hugh E. Williams, RMIT

University.

Peter Wipf, University of Pittsburgh; Gary E. Wnek, Case

Western Reserve University; Jang-Yen Wu, Florida Atlantic

University; Wei Wu, University of Southern California; Younan

Xia, Georgia Institute of Technology; Longya Xu, The Ohio

State University; Zhen Xu, University of Michigan; Mengsu

(Michael) Yang, City University of Hong Kong; Yang Yang,

University of California, Los Angeles; Jianhua Yu, University

of California, Irvine; Carlos A. Zarate Jr., National

Institutes of Health; Junshan Zhang, University of

California, Davis; Zhongfei (Mark) Zhang, Binghamton

University, State University of New York; Ji-Guang (Jason)

Zhang, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Min Zou,

University of Arkansas.