Democrat blasts GOP for ‘offering bills to give appliances more rights than women’

Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) criticized Republicans for their focus on legislation related to home appliances instead of women’s reproductive health during a Mother’s Day press conference Wednesday.  

“We seem to have some Republicans who forget that the best Mother’s Day present would be to honor what mothers need,” Leger Fernández said at the press conference organized by the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC).  

DWC members at the event called on Republicans to support legislation that would help mothers "thrive," like protecting access to abortion and in vitro fertilization treatments and making child care and elder care more affordable. 

“We need health care, we need child care, we need respect as women.” 

“This week, Republicans didn’t deliver any of this. Instead, they are offering bills to give appliances more rights than women,” she said.  

“They want to protect home appliances but not women’s reproductive health care.” 

The comment comes a day after the House of Representatives passed the “Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act,” which would limit the Department of Energy’s ability to change energy savings standards on home appliances and make it easier to revoke existing standards.  

The bill passed 212-195, with seven Democrats crossing the aisle to support the legislation.  

Republicans have hammered Democrats over their efforts to make appliances more energy efficient, but it appears unlikely the bill will pass in the Senate.  

Republicans have introduced at least half a dozen other appliance-related bills, including the “Liberty in Laundry Act,” the “Clothes Dryer Reliability Act,” and the “Refrigerator Freedom Act.”  

The bills are meant to curb the Energy Department from setting new energy standards on common home appliances.

In April, the House Rule Committee was scheduled to review the bills but quickly postponed considering any of the legislation.