Congress stops new rules for commercial coolers.
H.J.Res. 75 — Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy relating to "Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Commercial Refrigerators, Freezers, and Refrigerator-Freezers". · Filed by Craig Goldman (R-TX) · 13 cosponsors · Introduced Mar 10, 2025 · Signed
Your members of Congress
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What it does
Congress voted to reject a Department of Energy rule. The rule set new standards for how much power commercial coolers must use. The rule is now canceled. Companies that make commercial coolers no longer have to follow the new standards.
Who it affects
Restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, and schools use commercial coolers. They will likely pay more to run them. Companies that make commercial coolers are freed from the new rules.
One thing to notice
The rule is stopped for good. The same rule cannot come back without Congress saying yes again.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
13 cosponsors: 13 Republicans.
- Mar 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
- Mar 27, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 214 - 193 (Roll no. 78). (text: 3/26/2024 CR H1284)”
- May 1, 2025 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Yea-Nay Vote. 52 - 45. Record Vote Number: 228.”
- May 6, 2025 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
- May 9, 2025 — Signed into law · Congress.gov: “Became Public Law No: 119-9”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
3 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 4 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $19,424,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 70 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 61% of bills with any report.
Craig Goldman, who sponsored the bill, received $693,167 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $17,960,000 in 1 report
- Food Marketplace Inc — $1,384,000 in 2 reports
- Sierra Club — $80,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- standards — Rules that require machines to use less power.
- commercial coolers — Big cooling machines used by stores and restaurants to keep food cold.
- Department of Energy — The government agency that makes rules about how people use power.
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
- sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,423 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,778 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-11-02.
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