WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday failed to stop the enactment of new energy-saving standards for light bulbs they portrayed as yet another example of big government interfering in people’s lives.
The GOP bill to overturn the standards set to go into effect next year fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for passage, 233-193.
The legislation, which Republicans say is an attempt to rein in a government sticking its nose into too many places, would have kept the marketplace clear for incandescent bulbs that have changed little since Thomas Edison invented them in 1879.
“I’m not opposed to the squiggly tailed CFLs,” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, a driving force behind the effort to save the old incandescents and sponsor of the bill to overturn the standards. But making the old bulbs go away “seems to me to be overkill by the federal government.” The Associated Press; AP file photo
