Michele Bachmann Has a Bright Idea

You can keep your incandescent light bulbs if you want too.

(The Hill) — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) took aim Friday at a law mandating more energy efficient light bulbs, vowing to overturn the requirement if elected president.

“President Bachmann will allow you to buy any light bulb you want,” Bachmann said at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, La.

Bachmann touted her Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, which would repeal a provision in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that requires traditional incandescent light bulbs to be 30 percent more energy efficient beginning in 2012.

Republicans have cast the provision as a “light bulb ban,” arguing that it will disadvantage incandescent bulbs in favor of more expensive LED (light-emitting diode) and CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs.

LEDs and CFLs are much more efficient than traditional incandescent bulbs.

Bachmann’s comments come just days after President Obama touted energy-efficient light bulbs during a speech at an LED lighting manufacturer in Durham, N.C.