 In 1995 he went to work for the U.S. House Committee on Commerce as Republican (majority) counsel for electricity, nuclear waste, hydropower, and energy conservation matters, as well as oversight of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and FERC.In that capacity he managed a number of bills that became law.In 1998 Kelliher drafted the first comprehensive electricity legislation that eventually became the electricity provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.