The House failed to repeal the incandescent light bulb ban yesterday.
Although the vote was 233-193, a two-thirds majority (288 votes) was required for passage under the “suspension of the rules” procedure, which is generally used to quickly pass non-controversial bills. Good choice by GOP leadership, huh? Way to count votes!
Five Democrats voted to repeal the ban, 10 Republicans voted against it and 1 Republican voted present.
Those 10 “Republicans” who voted “no” are:
- Charles Bass, New Hampshire;
- Brian Bilbray, California;
- Scott Garrett, New Jersey;
- Morgan Griffith, Virginia;
- Richard Hanna, New York;
- Tim Huelskamp, Kansas;
- Tom Reed, New York;
- Dave Reichert, Washington,
- Scott Rigell, Virginia; and
- Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania.
Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) voted present.
Although their “no” votes didn’t ultimately matter, these RINOs ought to be ashamed of voting to tell Americans what kind of light bulbs they can buy.
Actually there should’ve been more votes against the repeal because it contained langauge taking away states’ rights: http://www.twincountynews.com/community/from-our-elected-officials/7657-griffith-on-the-bulb-act.html
Rob Bishop was concerned with an amendment that caused harm to 10th Amendment? Why can’t something pass without all the clutter?
http://robbishop.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=251443C
But apparently it would pass with a simple majority next time
which Rep Barton according to his facebook page is now considering
Still,
to paraphrase Casablanca, maybe we will always have Paris or at least Paris, Texas!
http://ceolas.net/#li01inx updates on all 7 US state repeal bills (legislated Texas June 17th) and the Canadian Government’s 2014 ban
You might want to carefully read this explanation…
Carolee Adams, President
Eagle Forum of New Jersey
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2011/07/are-the-lights-out-forever.html
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011
ARE THE LIGHTS OUT FOREVER?
Why did the Bulb Act, HR91, fail to repeal the ban on the Edison light bulb? What’s next?
House Turns Out the Lights on Bulb Ban
“The House of Representatives voted to preserve a scheduled phase out of incandescent light bulbs Monday evening. The Better Use of Light Bulbs (BULB) Act, would have rescinded efficiency standards for incandescent bulbs included in a 2007 energy bill. 233 members voted yes and 193 cast nay votes. But the House required a supermajority to approve this particular package. In this case, it would have needed 285 yea votes to pass … The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, says that the increased efficiency standards have the government picking winners and losers in the lighting market.”
Are the lights out forever? How did this Tea Party, Eagle Forum, conservative, citizen favored BULB Act fail?
To the first question, maybe not. Read the positive action items below.
To the second question, why did the Bulb Act fail, the response is a disheartening expose. The original BULB Act was introduced by those like Rep. Joe Barton of Texas and co-sponsored by those like Congressman Scott Garrett of New Jersey. It expressed their fundamental disagreement with the government’s restriction on consumer choice and pursued a simple and pure repeal of the 2007 ban of incandescent, Edison light bulbs.
That 2007 ban was written to satisfy the lighting industry. This industry devised the original ban with detailed milestones for phasing out different incandescent bulbs to produce more expensive, more profitable products for lighting companies at consumer expense. The ban of the Edison light bulb in 2007 was then introduced by Rep. Fred Upton, RINO from Michigan, Chairman of the Energy Committee, and heir to the Whirlpool fortune. Upton also crafted legislation that helped his fraternity brothers change various appliance regulations for similar reasons as the ban on the incandescent light bulb. Smell something burning yet?
However, to the exceptionally good BULB Act that would have repealed the 2007 legislation, was added an unconstitutional provision to appease this notorious Chairman of the Energy Committee, Fred Upton, and his buddies. That provision became Section 4 of the Bulb Act and it violated the 10th Amendment. It infringed on states’ rights. The provision would not allow states to create their own light bulb standards and choose the bulbs they wanted or didn’t want. The lighting industry claimed it was too expensive to make different bulbs for different states citing that California has already banned the 100W bulb. It is a textbook example how major companies abuse the regulatory process to protect themselves from competition, and how some Republicans are too willing to do their bidding instead of adhering to free market principles.
The lighting industry has been gearing up to introduce new and more expensive, more profitable products. This has happened all over the world as explained in this 2007 article.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003590856_lightbulbs27.html
ACTION ITEMS
This will be one tough bill to re-light and pass. However, consider that H. R. 91 would have passed the House of Representatives if it had been allowed for a regular vote where only a majority of one was required and not the “supermajority” of 2/3 vote procedurally required because leadership suspended the vote for a day.
The bill should be re-intoduced now – without the unconstitutional provision – and presented for a vote at a regular voting session. Let Fred Upton and his lighting buddies know we will not allow them to turn out the lights on consumer choice when both cost and safety are important added factors. (I have received multi-stories about problems. Here are some: a bulb breaks and causes a rash upon skin contact; the mercury bulbs must be recycled; the bulbs do not last as long as advertised; the bulbs burn out lighting fixtures; a nearby lightning strike caused a home’s CFL bulbs to smolder while the incandescent bulbs were unaffected.)
Call Rep. Joe Barton: 202.225.2002. Encourage him to re-introduce HR91, the BULB ACT, without any unconstitutional provisions.
Call Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Eric Cantor of House Leadership to encourage them to support this re-introduction and put it before a regular vote of the House of Representatives.
Rep. Boehner/Office of the Speaker:
H-232 The Capitol, Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-0600 Fax: (202) 225-5117
Rep. Cantor/House Majority Office: 202.225.4000
Call your own congressman and encourage him or her to co-sponsor a re-introduction of the original, pure Bill that will repeal the ban on the Edison light bulb.
Thank you.
Carolee Adams, President
Eagle Forum of New Jersey
A bunch of fools
I vote against Bass at every election because he supports AGW legislation and helped bring about hate speech laws. Hopefully the next election will be his last.
“The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.”— Robert A. Heinlein
It is revealed now for all to see that not all adherents of authoritarianism are Democrats.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!?