'Not a joke': GOP reps focus on appliance bills as colleagues await their approval on Ukraine aid

As Ukraine runs out of ammunition to defend itself against Russian aggression, both Democrat and Republican lawmakers are urging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to bring the $90 billion bipartisan foreign aid package to the House floor.

The bill would provide $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, but as Johnson faces pressure from far-right House members, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and other hardliners in the Freedom Caucus, the Louisiana lawmaker still has yet to act.

Deputy Chief of Staff for US Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), Aaron Fritschner tweeted Thursday, "Amid discussion of whether/when Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) will bring a Ukraine funding bill to the floor, the GOP majority just noticed that the Rules Committee will meet Monday to prepare the bills below for floor consideration in the House next week. Sadly, this is not a joke."

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Fritschner included a screenshot of the House Rules Committee announcement from its website, rules.house.gov, which reads:

The Committee on Rules will meet Monday, April 15, 2024 at 4:00 PM ET in H-313, The Capitol on the following measures:

• H.R. 6192 – Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act
• H.R. 7673 – Liberty in Laundry Act
• H.R. 7645 – Clothes Dryers Reliability Act
• H.R. 7637 – Refrigerator Freedom Act
• H.R. 7626 – Affordable Air Conditioning Act
• H.R. 7700 – Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act

Rep. Beyer, himself, also tweeted about the proposed bills, writing, "This is real. This is actually what Republicans are preparing to spend next week on in the House."

US Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) — author of the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act — on Thursday wrote, "President Biden worked to ban gas stoves – then pressured SNOPES to change it's fact check about it! Gas stoves won't be banned on my watch. That’s why we passed my bill, Save Our Gas Stoves, and we’ll do it again with my Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act!"

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CNN notes:

Last year, Richard Trumka Jr., then a US Consumer Product Safety commissioner, set off a political firestorm when he suggested the agency could ban gas stoves because they have been linked to childhood asthma.

Trumka had confirmed to CNN that 'everything’s on the table' when it comes to gas stoves, but stressed that any ban would apply only to new gas stoves, not existing ones.

At the time, a White House spokesperson said, 'The President does not support banning gas stoves — and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is independent, is not banning gas stoves.'

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