Light Bulb Amendment puts U.S. Jobs at Risk

Yesterday NEMA sent the below letter to every member in the U.S. House of Representatives.  

Support US Jobs and Oppose Burgess Amendment on Light Bulbs

Dr. Burgess (R-TX) has announced he will be offering an amendment that has the impact of threatening U.S. manufacturing jobs.  The National Electrical          Manufacturers Association (NEMA) strongly opposes the Burgess amendment and urges you to vote against it.  The amendment would prevent the Department of Energy from enforcing U.S. law regarding energy efficient light bulb requirements that were established with bipartisan and manufacturer support in EISA 2007. 

U.S. companies will continue to comply with the law, even if DOE is prohibited from enforcing it.  The amendment will open the door for “bad actors” to enter the US market on an unlevel playing field to compete with legally-compliant, U.S. manufacturers. 

We urge you to protect US jobs and vote against the Burgess amendment.  

An amendment on the Energy and Water appropriations bill defunding the enforcement of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA 2007) minimum standards for energy-efficient light sources has been included into the legislation. Such a move puts American jobs at risk. Some in Congress are willing to put U.S. jobs at risk for political positioning. This is an example of a few politicizing light bulbs at the risk of American workers and the economy. 

Investments have been made in energy-efficient lighting based on EISA 2007. Now years later, the government wants to strip enforcement of the standards. Not enforcing the standard allows those who are not law-abiding companies to sell non-compliant products into the market without fear of consequence. Those non-compliant products may take some piece of the demand from compliant products. These non-compliant products can come from foreign or domestic manufacturers. NEMA members comply with the law, and therefore are no longer making non-compliant products. But, the resources invested into compliant products are undercut by congress not supporting enforcement. This uncertainty puts at risk those jobs associated with compliant products. Some in Congress need to focus their efforts on positive outcomes for our country rather than political polls.