The Trade Group That Says It 'Helped Draft' His Energy Choice Act Has Made Him Its Top Recipient. Six Groups on His Own Supporter List Have Given $54,000.

Campaign Finance / Energy Source: FEC filings (Langworthy for Congress, Circle the Wagons PAC, NEFI Home Comfort PAC), govinfo BILLSTATUS, Rep. Langworthy's press release DOCUMENTED PATTERN

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Why this matters

The Energy Choice Act is a bill Rep. Langworthy has promoted repeatedly this month. “My Energy Choice Act protects that freedom,” his campaign page posted on October 8. A fuel-dealer trade association, the National Energy & Fuels Institute (NEFI), says it “helped draft” the bill.

Campaign finance records show that NEFI’s political action committee has given more to Rep. Langworthy this cycle than to any other candidate, and that six of the national groups his own office named as the bill’s supporters have given his committees $54,000. One set, the home builders’ $10,000, arrived between the bill’s two committee votes.

None of this is illegal, and it does not show that any vote was bought. Voters weighing the bill, and the posts about it, can see who backs it with money as well as with letters.

The bill

Rep. Langworthy introduced H.R. 3699, the Energy Choice Act, on June 4, 2025. It would bar state and local governments from prohibiting or limiting connections to an energy service based on the type or source of energy, which would block bans on new natural gas or propane hookups. The site’s February entry covers what it does.

His June 5, 2025 press release introducing it states that the bill “has received wide support from federal organizations” and lists 17 of them:

American Exploration and Production Council (AXPC), American Gas Association (AGA), American Public Gas Association (APGA), Americans for Prosperity (AFP), Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), Energy Marketers of America (EMA), GPA Midstream Association, GPSA Midstream Suppliers, Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA), National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), National Association of Oil and Energy Service Professionals (OESP), National Energy and Fuels Institute (NEFI), National Propane Gas Association (NPGA), Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors – National Association (PHCC), Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA), LIBRE Initiative, Concerned Veterans for America (CVA).

NEFI’s own account goes further. A NEFI news post dated September 16, 2025 describes the Energy Choice Act as the bill “which NEFI helped draft and has led a national coalition to support.”

DateBill action (govinfo BILLSTATUS)
June 4, 2025Introduced; referred to Energy and Commerce
November 19, 2025Energy Subcommittee markup; forwarded by voice vote
December 3, 2025Full committee markup; ordered reported, 24 to 21
February 4, 2026Reported (H. Rept. 119-482); placed on the Union Calendar
SinceNo floor vote

The money

We checked every contribution from every group on that list against the 2025-26 filings of Rep. Langworthy’s campaign committee (Langworthy for Congress) and his leadership PAC (Circle the Wagons PAC). Six of the 17 have political action committees that gave:

Supporter named in his releasePAC contributions to his committees, 2025-26
National Association of Home Builders (BUILD-PAC)$20,000 ($10,000 to each committee)
National Propane Gas Association PAC$10,000
NEFI Home Comfort PAC$8,500
American Gas Association PAC$7,500
Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors PAC$5,000
Energy Marketers of America Small Business Committee PAC$3,000
Total$54,000

We found no contribution from the other 11 groups’ PACs in these filings.

In plain language: six of the bill’s named backers have given his campaign and leadership PAC $54,000 this cycle. That is about 4 percent of the $1.28 million his two committees received from PACs and party committees over the same period.

NEFI’s PAC: its top recipient

NEFI Home Comfort PAC’s 2025-26 reports list payments to 10 candidate and party committees, totaling about $34,700. Langworthy for Congress is first, at $9,263.12. The next largest, Rep. Claudia Tenney’s campaign, received $5,970. Counting contributions alone, he is still first: $8,500, against $5,000 each to Reps. Richard Neal and Andrew Garbarino.

NEFI’s figure for him includes three contributions ($1,000, $2,500 and $5,000, totaling $8,500, which his campaign reports receiving) and one more item: on October 31, 2025, NEFI’s year-end report lists a payment of $763.12 to Langworthy for Congress described as “Breakfast expenses,” on its line for other disbursements rather than contributions. We did not find a matching entry in the campaign’s reports. The filings alone do not say what the payment was. NEFI’s PAC uses the same line for other candidates: it reported two items to Rep. Tenney’s campaign there, one described as “Food and beverage costs” and one as “General election contribution.”

When the gifts came

Dates are the dates his campaign or leadership PAC reports receiving each contribution.

DateContributionBill milestone
Feb 14, 2025NPGA PAC $5,000; EMA PAC $1,000(before introduction)
Mar 13, 2025NEFI PAC $1,000
Jun 4, 2025Introduced
Jun 19, 2025EMA PAC $1,000
Sep 30, 2025NEFI PAC $2,500; PHCC PAC $5,000
Oct 31, 2025NEFI PAC pays $763.12, “Breakfast expenses” (NEFI’s report)
Nov 19, 2025Subcommittee markup
Nov 26, 2025NAHB BUILD-PAC $10,000 ($5,000 to each committee)7 days after subcommittee, 7 days before full committee
Dec 3, 2025Full committee vote, 24-21
Dec 30, 2025AGA PAC $2,500
Feb 4, 2026Reported to the House
Feb 18, 2026NEFI PAC $5,000; NPGA PAC $5,00014 days after the bill was reported
May 12, 2026NAHB BUILD-PAC $5,000 (leadership PAC)
Jun 8, 2026AGA PAC $5,000
Jun 30, 2026NAHB BUILD-PAC $5,000
Jul 29, 2026EMA PAC $1,000

The donors’ own reports date some checks earlier. NEFI dates its February 2026 contribution February 11, a week after the bill was reported. NPGA dates its checks January 22, 2025 and February 2, 2026, two days before the bill was reported; on both of those days it sent identical $5,000 checks to Reps. Latta, Costa, Bergman and Rutherford, so its timing follows its own schedule rather than this bill’s.

The wider oil and gas money

Counting four of the supporters above (NPGA, NEFI, AGA and EMA), 17 PACs from oil and gas producers, refiners, pipelines, gas utilities, and propane and heating-fuel dealers gave his two committees a combined $83,500 this cycle; $54,500 of it came from PACs not on his supporter list. The largest: National Fuel Gas, NPGA, Marathon Petroleum and ExxonMobil at $10,000 each. The count leaves out electric utilities (including National Grid USA’s PAC, $5,000, whose company also delivers gas in New York), diversified companies such as Koch Industries ($10,000), and contractors and home builders. The site’s December 2025 entry covered $66,466 from the industry in the 2024 cycle, using OpenSecrets' industry totals, which count differently; the two figures should not be added or compared directly.

The fair reading, at full strength

  • Everything here is legal and disclosed. PACs report their giving, and so does his campaign. The site found these records because they are public.
  • PACs usually give to members who already agree with them. The propane association’s first contribution this cycle came nearly four months before the bill was introduced. The records cannot show whether the money followed the bill, the bill followed the money, or both followed a position he already held.
  • NPGA’s giving to him is not unique. The propane association’s PAC gave $10,000 to at least four other candidates this cycle, in the same batches, including Democratic Rep. Jim Costa. NEFI’s PAC also gives to Democrats, including the campaigns of Richard Neal, John Larson, Jared Golden, Seth Magaziner and Chris Pappas.
  • The amounts are a small share of his money. The six supporters' $54,000 is about 4 percent of the PAC and party money his two committees have received this cycle.
  • NEFI is open about its role. It says publicly that it helped draft the bill. Whether the bill serves NY-23 households is a separate question, which the site’s February entry addresses.

Questions this raises

  1. NEFI says it “helped draft” the Energy Choice Act. Which provisions did it write, and did any consumer, ratepayer or local-government group have comparable input?
  2. What was the $763.12 “Breakfast expenses” payment NEFI’s PAC reported making to Langworthy for Congress on October 31, 2025, and where does it appear in the campaign’s reports?
  3. His posts this month describe the bill as protecting families’ freedom to choose how to heat their homes. Will he say, when he promotes it, that the group that says it helped write it, and others that back it, are also among his donors?

Sources

Note: This entry documents publicly available information from Federal Election Commission filings, the Government Publishing Office and the statements of Rep. Langworthy’s office and NEFI. It makes no claim about motive and does not allege wrongdoing. Corrections with sources are welcome at [email protected].

Last updated: October 16, 2026