House Republicans fail to save 30-cent light bulbs from extinction
House Republicans Tuesday failed to overturn energy-efficiency standards that would have allowed Americans to continue buying cheap but inefficient incandescent light bulbs next year.
Republicans had argued during debates Monday that the lighting-efficiency standards approved on a bipartisan basis in 2007 amounted to excess government control over Americans’ lives.
“We should let the marketplace decide,” Rep. Joe Barton (R) of Texas, the new bill’s sponsor, said in a floor debate Monday. “We should repeal this de facto ban, and we should let people decide if they want to buy a $6 light bulb or a 39-cent light bulb.”
Traditional incandescent bulbs cost about about 30 to 50 cents apiece, while updated incandescent versions cost $1.50. The latter pay for themselves in energy savings in about six months, efficiency advocates say.
In an often fractious Congress, energy efficiency has been a point of agreement – and repealing the bulb measures was self-defeating, said Rep. Mike Doyle (D) of Pennsylvania. “In Congress, we don’t always agree on much, but for the last 25 years, we’ve agreed on energy standards,” he said. “The lighting industry has already begun to be revolutionized.