House votes to block enforcement of energy efficient light bulb standards

The Hill ^ | 06/05/12 | Pete Kasperowicz

[presidio9]

The House approved two amendments to a 2013 spending bill late Tuesday night that would prohibit the government from enforcing federal lightbulb standards that Republicans say are too intrusive.

In a voice vote, the House approved an amendment to the Energy and Water spending bill for 2013 that would prevent the Department of Energy from spending money to enforce a 2007 law that sets bulb standards. The law bans the sale of 100 watt incandescent bulbs, and will ban the sale of 75 watt traditional bulbs in July 2013.

This year, like last year, the amendment was sponsored by Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), who said the federal government should not be in the business of requiring certain light bulbs to be used.

"We shouldn't be making these decisions for the American people," Burgess said on the House floor. Burgess added that his amendment was approved last year and signed into law by President Obama, after which the House quickly voice-voted his amendment again.

The language was subject to just a brief debate in which Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.) said he opposed the language, since it could hurt U.S. companies who make compliant light bulbs.

"The only benefit to this amendment is to allow foreign manufacturers who may not feel a similar obligation to export non-compliant light bulbs that will not only harm the investments made by U.S. companies, but place at risk U.S. manufacturing jobs associated with making compliant bulbs," he said.

The House also approved an amendment from Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) that would prevent

[HiTech RedNeck]

WHAT domestic manufacturers, Mr. Rat? With the demise of the modern tungsten incandescent bulb, a few of which were still cranked out domestically by bitter clingers, there are only fronts for the made in China curlybulbs.

[savagesusie]

Those “energy efficient” bulbs are filled with mercury and will poison our landfills and water.....It will cost more and use way more energy in the end-— to clean up all the hazardous waste that is in those bulbs coming from China. We will be poisoning our children if those bulbs break inside the house and the cr*p gets into landfills and water supplies....think of the cost of having hazardous waste specialists come into your house.

Marxists are trying to destroy this country with insane laws and regulations.

[icwhatudo]

LOL, They won’t defund Obamacare or planned parenthood..but throw us a bone with lightbulbs so we can all cheer how “conservative” they are. Yawn.

[pops88]

“Those “energy efficient” bulbs are filled with mercury and will poison our landfills and water”

They probably already are. I have two bulbs sitting in my garage that need to be disposed. So tempting to just throw them in the garbage, and I’m sure less scrupulous people than me have en masse. I’ve heard Home Depot is a disposal spot, but I refuse to darken their excessively gay friendly door.

[bill1952]

This is what I have come to HATE about our body politic & LOVE about the framers of this great republic!

Fat ass, corrupt trash, voting on light bulbs while spending trillions & trillions & trillions, all the while presiding over the demise of America for their own gross material benefit!

Tarring & feathering is far too good

Wake up!

[oyez]

Not so fast. Te Senat won’t touch it and Obama wouldn’t sign it anyway.

[C210N]

Marxists are trying to destroy this country with insane laws and regulations...

In war, If the enemy comes up with a fast fighter, we come up with a faster one. If the enemy comes up with a quiet sub, we come up with a quieter stealthier sub. If the enemy comes up with a big gun, we come up with an even bigger gun. However, when the enemy figures out how to get elected officials to pass society-killing laws, we are stymied and defenseless. We really need to figure out how, while still keeping our republic and constitution intact, to fight the internal battles - if we lose, we lose it all, just as if the enemy has the fastest fighter, stealthiest sub or biggest gun.

[musicman]

[Right Wing Assault]

Those “energy efficient” bulbs are filled with mercury and will poison our landfills and water.

"Filled" is a bit misleading. CFLs and the older fluorescent tubes that are found in just about every office building, school, and store in the country both contain mercury. Approximately 5 milligrams.

[AuH2ORepublican]

“LOL, They won’t defund Obamacare or planned parenthood..but throw us a bone with lightbulbs so we can all cheer how “conservative” they are. Yawn.”

---

Before you simultaneously laugh out loud and yawn, you should become apprised of the fact that the “they” of which you speak (the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, which is the group that passed the lightbulb bill today) actually *did* vote to defund Obamacare (on April 14, 2011; it also voted on January 19, 2011 to repeal Obamacare) and to defund Planned Parenthood (on both February 19, 2011 and April 14, 2011). You see, our Constitution provides for this thing called “bicameralism,” so a bill passed by the House won’t become law unless the Senate also passes it (and the bill is either signed into law by the president or his veto is overturned by 2/3 of each house of Congress). So before you ridicule Republican Representatives for not doing stuff you want them to do, you should at least try to find out whether or not they did those things, instead of relying on whether or not your preferred bill has become law. It’s not the Republican House’s fault that the Democrats have 53 Senators who can block anything they want, not to mention that the President is a Marxist.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks presidio9.

[savagesusie]

It will take grass roots at local levels....starting in the cities—and kicking the brainwashing machine (DOE) out of public schools and burning all the BF Skinner-laced curricula written by Marxists like Billy Ayers to destroy Virtue and Character in our children-—and knowledge. Put back Classical curricula written in the original and not by the revisionist Marxists which is destroying truth and the belief in God. We are a Nation under God—our Natural Rights come from God and so we need children to learn that.

We take back the education of our kids and start at city level—forcing laws which are not constitutional (like no DOE).

If we take our education of our children back—they won’t be able to create their useful idiots-—like the Acorn and ows idiots who cannot think and use logic. We need to dump the TV and brainwashing media....be very selective with what we allow our children to view. Ideas matter-—it determines everything and the media and schools are teaching collectivism and Atheism/Paganism/Satanism/Islam—all beliefs that are incompatible with a Nation built on God’s Standards of Right and Wrong.

[savagesusie]

Thanks for the correction-—I am being very lazy. Are we allowed to produce any of the mercury containing bulbs in the US? Or have the older fluorescent tubes always come from China?

[icwhatudo]

Thanks for making my point. They have not defunded Obamacare, they have only voted for a bill that has no chance of passing the senate.

You see, our Constitution provides for this thing called a continuing resolution. On March 4th of last year, the last CR from the previous Democrat congress expired. Since that time the GOP controlled house has been approving its own CR’s. The GOP-e can pass all the feel good bills they want, knowing the senate will never approve them.

It’s not the Republican House’s fault? Well, at least not the 80 or so that voted against the last CR.

When will they blink next?

[PGalt]

In a voice vote, the House approved an amendment to the Energy and Water spending bill for 2013 that would prevent the Department of Energy from spending money to enforce a 2007 law that sets bulb standards.

Great thread! HOORAY House! Thanks to all posters. DEFUND/DISMANTLE the D.O.E. Why are we paying them to spend our money and regulate us into the ground?

We're broke. Socialists did it.

Socialism Is Legal Plunder - Frederic Bastiat 1801-1850

[zerosix]

About damned time that these jerks.are beginning to feel the heat from "We the People."

If they are beginning to notice highly entrenched pols being beaten in primaries or even challenged, when they never were before and now are having wake-up calls (T.E.A. Party anyone) then so much to the better.

As for me, I'm still sick of the attitude that a smug and "holier than thou" congress decided I had to have new toilets that had worked for decades! I'm still mad that this crap was passed in '07 and Bush signed the lunacy!

[Right Wing Assault]

Or have the older fluorescent tubes always come from China?

They were common in schools and stores when I was a kid in the 50s. I bet we made all of our own back then. Japanese and Chinese products were pretty much non-existent then and for quite a few years. For a while Japan was a major source of products in the USA and now, of course, Japan has been swamped by China.

[AuH2ORepublican]

By your rationale, the lightbulb bill has no chance of becoming law, either, so the House isn’t throwing conservatives a bone instead of tackling Obamacare or Planned Parenthood, it is giving lightbulb standards the same short shrift as it gave the other, more important issues.

The 1995-2007 GOP House majority never voted to defund Planned Parenthood; this House majority has. It is passing bills that make it clear to voters that the Senate is blocking common-sense conservative reforms, and it wil lhelp us take the Senate (and likely the White House) in November. As unreliable as Romney is, I bet you he wouldn’t dare veto a law repealing Obamacare or defunding Planned Parenthood, which can be accomplished within less than a year. Your point about continuing resolutions is a good one, but refusing to approve one would come at a price, and it could be a very heavy one for the GOP, and there is no guarantee that it would result in the Senate and Obama signing off on defunding Obamacare or Planned Parenthood (or that the GOP would hold the House or pick up the Senate after the shutdown). We’ve waited decades to defund Planned Parenthood; we can wait eight more months and make sure we get rid of it for good.

[1010RD]

Great points all. It is sad to see how many couch potatoe conservatives see a Speaker like Boehner and think, “I could do that.” Never elected, never tried, their one skill is to criticize.

Our best defense against a move to the Left by Mitt are a conservative Congress and a well-informed public.