of its manifestations. In March 2011, Barton sponsored the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act, which would repeal the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, signed by President George W. Bush. The 2007 law set energy efficiency standards for light bulbs, effectively eliminating most or all incandescent light bulbs. Barton said "People don't want Congress dictating what light fixtures they can use." Barton was a member of the Freedom Caucus and the United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus. In the first session of the 115th United States Congress, Barton was ranked the 42nd most bipartisan member of the House by the Bipartisan Index, a metric published by The Lugar Center and Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy to assess congressional bipartisanship. Congressional action Former Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, House sponsor of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and chairman of the House–Senate energy conference committee. On his website he speaks of his diligent work to promote a conservative agenda, and how "in his first legislative victory as Chairman, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation to limit indecency on the public airwaves." Both initiated and eliminated "safe harbor" provision for MTBE (in Energy Policy Act of 2005). Co-founded the Congressional Privacy Caucus, cosponsor of the anti-spyware SPY ACT, initiated National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006. Opposed the extension of the Voting Rights Act in 2006 Barton was a leading voice in Congress for forcing the switch from analog to digital TV. Barton has supported the auctioning off the public airwaves to private companies. Global warming Prompted by a February 2005 Wall Street Journal article, Barton launched an investigation that year into two climate change studies from 1998 and 1999. In his letters to the authors of the studies he requested details on the studies and the sources of the authors grant funding. The Washington Post condemned Barton's investigation as a "witch-hunt". During former Vice President Al Gore's testimony to the Energy and Commerce Committee in March 2007, Barton asserted to Gore that "You're not just off a little, you're totally wrong" (climate scientists have refuted Barton's assertion), stating that "Global warming science is uneven and evolving." Upset with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's passage of global warming legislation in 2009, he said: "You can't regulate God." At the same time, Barton implied in 2009 that wind is a "finite resource," and there was a claim made