FERC must review EPA power rules when electricity is tight.
H.R. 3616 — Reliable Power Act · Filed by Troy Balderson (R-OH) · 20 cosponsors · Introduced May 29, 2025 · Passed chamber
Your members of Congress
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What it does
The bill tells FERC to check each year if the U.S. has enough power plants. If FERC says power is short, other agencies like EPA must send new rules to FERC first. FERC gets to comment on those rules. Agencies cannot finish rules unless they answer FERC's concerns in writing. FERC must say the rule will not hurt the power grid.
Who it affects
The bill affects EPA, which makes pollution and climate rules. It affects power companies and utilities that run power plants. It affects people who breathe air and depend on electricity.
One thing to notice
FERC decides when power is short, but the law does not say how. FERC can block or delay EPA rules about pollution if FERC thinks they hurt the grid.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
20 cosponsors: 20 Republicans.
- May 29, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 29, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce and Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
- Jun 5, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jun 25, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 28 - 23”
- Dec 17, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 225 - 203 (Roll no. 347).”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
21 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 36 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $69,828,610 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 38 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 97% of bills with any report.
Troy Balderson, who sponsored the bill, received $1,151,382 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $54,660,000 in 3 reports
- Edison Electric Institute — $4,248,610 in 2 reports
- Duke Energy Corporation — $2,280,000 in 1 report
- National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (nreca) — $1,750,000 in 2 reports
- Public Service Enterprise Group — $890,000 in 2 reports
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- FERC — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that oversees the power grid.
- power grid — The network of power plants, wires, and equipment that sends electricity across the country.
- EPA — The Environmental Protection Agency, which makes rules about pollution and emissions.
- 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 (5,309 characters) on Jul 10, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,522 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 2026-09-21.
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