"The House on Friday voted to withhold funding to enforce part of a 2007 law that increases efficiency standards for light bulbs.
The new standards, which would require most light bulbs to be 25 to 30 percent more efficient by 2014 and at least 60 percent more efficient by 2020, have become a symbol of what conservatives see as an unnecessary intrusion by the federal government into the market.
Democrats have countered that the efficiency standards will help the environment and save consumers money on their electric bills. The Department of Energy has said that consumers will save about $6 billion a year by 2015 under the new guidelines, and Steven Chu, the department’s head, told reporters last week that the new bulbs look like current bulbs, turn on instantly and can be used with dimmers, unlike some compact fluorescent bulbs.
Representative Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan, wrote the standards in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which President George W. Bush signed into law.
Mr. Upton has since reversed his position and now opposes the regulations."
