The U.S. southern border is so porous there has been a record number of illegal crossings under Joe Biden’s term. Worse, the drugs coming across the same border are killing nearly double the number of Americans every year than died in the decade-long Vietnam War.
Homeless encampments in larger cities are springing up daily, and crime rates across the country are exploding. But somehow, the Biden administration has found time to focus on something else completely: Your light bulbs.
According to reports on Tuesday, the Energy Department will begin enforcing onerous rules against the use of certain types of bulbs. Fox News notes:
Under the Department of Energy’s (DOE) regulations, manufacturers and retailers will be prohibited from selling incandescent and similar halogen light bulbs which represent a sizable share of current light bulb supplies. Instead, manufacturers and retailers must sell light-emitting diode, or LED, alternatives or risk substantial federal penalties.
“It’s impossible for Democrats to leave us alone. States must fight back,” Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., tweeted as the enforcement ban came into effect.
“President Biden continues to push liberal fantasies through his weaponized federal agencies,” Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., noted further. “The Department of Energy should be focused on American energy independence, not on what lightbulbs you can or can’t purchase for your home or business.”
In April 2022, several months after initially proposing the rulemaking, the Department of Energy (DOE) finalized regulations that prohibit certain light bulbs from being sold due to their low energy efficiency levels. The department has warned for months about what retailers would face regarding its light bulb ban enforcement to ensure industry-wide compliance.
“The lighting industry is already embracing more energy-efficient products, and this measure will accelerate progress to deliver the best products to American consumers and build a better and brighter future,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said last year.
Although there has been a growing trend in U.S. households transitioning to LED light bulbs since 2015, the most recent findings from the Residential Energy Consumption Survey indicate that fewer than half of households have reported using mostly or exclusively LEDs.
Industry groups are also pushing back, according to Fox News.
“We believe that further regulatory interference in the marketplace is unwarranted given that more energy efficient lighting choices, namely light-emitting diode bulbs, are already available for those consumers who prefer them over incandescent bulbs,” said a letter sent to the DOE last year by a coalition of free market and consumer groups opposed to incandescent bulb bans.
They added that estimates of the climate benefits of energy efficiency rules are “speculative, assumption-driven, and prone to bias in the hands of agencies with a regulatory agenda.”
