Rep. King: Pelosi's 'Stasi troops' force use of efficient light bulbs

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) took aim Thursday at efficient light bulbs and showerheads during a fiery speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

The Hill’s Cameron Joseph has more:

King compared the Capitol Hill janitors who replaced the light bulbs in his office with lower-energy bulbs to the East German communist secret police, describing them as "Nancy [Pelosi]'s Stasi troops," and complained of a water-saving showerhead in his shower.

"I drilled it out and now my 12 minute shower is now a three-minute shower and I have nine minutes every day to beat up on the liberals," he said to strong cheers and laughs from the highly partisan crowd.

Energy-efficient light bulbs have become a top target for conservatives. They have taken aim at a provisions in a 2007 energy law that require traditional incandescent light bulbs to be 30 percent more efficient starting this year.

Republicans often describe the standards as a “light bulb ban,” arguing that the rules would greatly restrict consumer choice by pushing out traditional incandescent bulbs in favor of more expensive, but more efficient, LED (light emitting diode) and CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs.

Environmental and energy-efficiency groups note that the standards do not ban incandescent bulbs, but instead require them to be more efficient. While more efficient light bulbs are often more expensive at the point of sale, experts say they save consumers money on their electricity bills over the long term.

Read more about the light bulb standards and GOP attempts to overturn them here.