Rachel Maddow brought this to light for me. Pun intended. The Hill has a good write-up, although I don’t agree with their full report.

At a time when leaders on both sides of the aisle are engaged in an epic debate on how, or if, to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, on Tuesday, House GOP leadership decided that what Americans really needed was a vote on their ability to continue to use incandescent light bulbs. Seriously.

H.R. 2417, the so-called Better Use of Light Bulbs Act of 2011, was defeated 233-193 under House rules that required a supermajority to succeed. If it had prevailed, this bill would have repealed language that was passed with bipartisan support in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) that called for replacing the most energy consuming incandescent light bulbs with more energy efficient light bulbs over the course of several years.

The BULB Act was brought to the floor without going through the legislative process and without the benefit of a single hearing on the bill. This process stands in stark contrast to the original language enacting the energy efficiency light bulb standards, which went through the committee process and enjoyed the support of both Democrats and Republicans before it was signed into law by President Bush.

Often times, you will hear that the GOP tries to control what happens in the bedroom. Their retort is, libruls try and control everywhere else. This is one more piece that fuels that flame, regardless of just how much money will actually be saved from the enacting the legislation in energy costs and the cost of replacing and manufacturing light bulbs. Although, people have their arguments, such as, the compact fluorescent bulbs don’t work well with dimmer switches (although they do make some specifically designed for this), they are more expensive (and why increase the economic burden during a recession!), I can make a stupid decision if I want, and I don’t like big gubbment, so there! To a degree, they are right, but I just find the fact that the measure failed due to John Boehner’s lack of organization hilarious.