Bill makes it harder to set strict appliance energy rules.
H.R. 4626 — Home Appliance Protection and Affordability Act · Filed by Rick Allen (R-GA) · Introduced Jul 23, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The bill changes how the government sets appliance energy rules. The Secretary of Energy must prove new rules are possible to make. The Secretary must also prove they are worth the cost. Energy savings must pay back within 3 years. The Secretary cannot count climate benefits when deciding on rules. Old rules can be canceled if they fail these tests.
Who it affects
Consumers may pay more to run appliances over many years. Appliance makers and sellers face less pressure to make efficient models. The bill affects rules for dishwashers, clothes washers, and distribution transformers.
One thing to notice
The bill requires savings to pay back within 3 years. Most appliances last 10 to 20 years, so rules that save money over time may be rejected.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jul 23, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 23, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce and Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy”
- Nov 19, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Dec 3, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 26 - 22”
- Feb 24, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On passage Passed by the Yeas and Nays: 217 - 190 (Roll no. 76).”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
28 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 42 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $28,914,983 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 8 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 98% of bills with any report.
Rick Allen, who sponsored the bill, received $587,750 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- National Association of Realtors — $14,580,000 in 1 report
- Pacific Gas and Electric Company — $3,530,000 in 1 report
- National Multifamily Housing Council Inc — $2,330,000 in 1 report
- Nfib (national Federation of Independent Business) — $1,670,000 in 1 report
- National Electrical Manufacturers Association — $1,165,000 in 2 reports
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- Secretary of Energy — The government official who makes rules about how much energy appliances use.
- distribution transformers — Equipment that moves and changes electrical power on power lines.
- 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 (18,667 characters) on Jul 9, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,938 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 23, 2026 · page rendered 2026-11-05.
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