So what part of the economic stimulus plan did House Minority Leader John Boehner single out on PBS’s Newshour:
And, if you look at the over $500 billion worth of spending, a lot of it’s going to fix up federal buildings, and — and $6 billion to community action programs to do weatherization programs.
It’s just more of the same kind of wasteful spending that we have seen in the past. I was really — I was shocked.
The Republicans dumped more than $100 billion down the black hole of Iraqi reconstruction, and Bush flushed down the toilet who knows how many tens of billions of dollars of the bailout bill. But Boehner is shocked that Democrats want to spend a few billion dollars to:
- Retrofit federal buildings to make them more energy-efficient
- Weatherize the home of poor people
I actually helped oversee both of those programs when I was at the Department of Energy (DOE) in the mid-1990s. The conservatives hated them then, too. What is so galling about the GOP’s ongoing efforts to cut these programs is that not only are they job creators — they are both deficit reducers:
- The Federal Energy Management Program invests in high-payback retrofits of federal buildings that lower the government’s energy bill — a bill which itself is paid for by taxpayers. The federal government is the single biggest user of energy in the country.
- The weatherization program lowers the energy bill of low-income households. Through the multi-billion-dollar Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), taxpayers help poor people pay their energy bills, so they don’t have to make tough choices between food, healthcare, and keeping their families warm during the winter.
The website of Bush’s DOE explains just how successful the weatherization program has been at helping more than 5.6 million low-income families in the past 30 years, while creating jobs in low-income communities:
By reducing the energy bills of low-income families instead of offering aid, weatherization reduces dependency and liberates these funds for spending on more pressing family issues. On average, weatherization reduces heating bills by 32% and overall energy bills by $358 per year at current prices. This spending, in turn, spurs low-income communities toward job growth and economic development.
But Boehner says “Bah, Humbug!” Just like Bush did, I might add, when he proposed last year to zero out the entire weatherization program (see “Bush, the uncompassionate, anti-technology President“). As Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, noted at the time:
The weatherization assistance program increases the energy efficiency of dwellings occupied by low-income Americans, thus directly reducing their energy costs. This is important, as energy costs account for about 13 percent of the household budgets of low-income families, compared to 3.5 percent or less for all other Americans. With energy costs rising significantly, and an economy poised on recession, the weatherization program is more needed than ever, and the funds already appropriated by Congress for fiscal year 2008 will pay for upgrades to 85,000 low-income dwellings. “It’s hard to fathom why this program is being terminated by the DOE now — a lot of households need help reducing their energy bills, and the work of insulating their homes creates residential construction jobs that are greatly needed right now, too.”
After this attempted termination, DOE deleted from its website a line describing the weatherization program as “this country’s longest running, and perhaps most successful energy efficiency program” (see Bodman as Orwell: DOE erases “most successful” weatherization program from website — note I don’t see the link to the cached original website, but that link still has the screen grab).
Boehner’s Newshour quote shows just how out of touch conservative leaders are on energy efficiency. Of all the things that he could have criticized in the bailout bill, he picked the two most no-brainer programs in it, the save energy, cut pollution, reduce the deficit, help poor people, and, of course create jobs.
Related Posts:
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- Krauthammer, Part 2: The real reason conservatives don’t believe in climate science
- The intellectual bankruptcy of conservatism: Heritage even opposes energy efficiency
- George Will nails the difference between conservatives and progressives
- Energy efficiency is THE core climate solution, Part 1: The biggest low-carbon resource by far
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I read the PBS transcript and found that Boehner doesn’t even bother to give reasons for his opinion that weatherization programs were wasteful. He probably doesn’t like the community building part of it (he wouldn’t say that, of course).
Seems like a strange moment to be against weatherization programs for the poor, seeing as so many are facing a cold winter.
It’s probably just the – big government programs are bad because they tend to be wasteful and subject to abuse – thinking going on here.
Boehner is much worse than just a Scrooge – he’s been wrong on every major issue of our time and he’s never uttered a word during his time in office that was worth quoting, except as an example of something stupid the supporters of global warming say. The man is a lizard brain obstructionist and he represents 19th century environmental thinking in almost every move he makes.
Representatives like Boehner have made the United States of America less than it should be and they will continue to make sure we never live up to our potential as long as they’re in a a position to make sure we hurtle head first towards a worst case scenario.
The people of Ohio not only should be ashamed of the quality of Congresspeople they send to Washington DC they should take responsibility for the damage Boehner does.
And you can write Boehner’s future script right now for the rest of the Obama administration. More of the same small-minded selfishness and Borg-like intonations of “no new taxes.”
Boehner will continue to be the thing we must keep trying to change away from.
“It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant.”
–Obama, on being mocked over suggesting that people check their tire pressure.
Let’s hope our president is as effective at jiu-jitsuing this kind of idiocy once he’s in office as he was during the campaign.
Just say it: the only reason to oppose low-income housing weatherization is to PROVIDE AN ANNUITY TO UTILITY COMPANIES.
Boehner is known for quickly choosing sides on an issue and dismissing all contradictory claims. Surely the utilities got to him first, because a principled budget-balancer he is not!
Bush having destroyed GOP credibility – Boehner proposes to get it back with this clown act?….interesting….
I watched that Boehner interview last week. I noticed the latest twist is to
bash House Democrats for stimulus spending while praising Obama’s
bipartisanship and desire to reach across the aisle.
He must think the public is too dumb to notice Obama helped craft the
package. And that the press release outlining it (linked above) came from
both groups.
The bill should pass the House easily, leaving Boehner to fume.
Then the contest shifts to the Senate and GOP attempts to water it down.
Greenius,
Boehner is a REP, not a Senator. Don’t blame Ohio for him; blame his district. Blame Middletown, Troy, Hamilton, whatever, but it’s not Ohio. I don’t know that he’s never uttered anything quote-worthy, and I certainly don’t support his positions now.
Just as an Ohioan from Dayton (which just avoids being part of his district), I don’t want to be lumped in with that. He’s gotten much worse since he really came to power, but I’d distance myself from embarrassment about Boehner because he doesn’t represent me and I had no chance to vote for him.
@Matt Cox,
Well said, and noted by me. I worked on Sherrod Brown’s election so I know Boehner isn’t the only voice from your state.
But you can trust me that Buckeye Boehner has NEVER said anything the least bit quoteworthy and his actions in office have been even more underwhelming.
You may not be in his district, but you’re close enough geographically to work against his re-election and to speak out as an Ohioan when Boehner utters his typical gibberish and nonsense.
Boehner pulled another boner.
Maarten said:
“He probably doesn’t like the community building part of it”
You can pretty much guarantee that any statement phrase or idea that contains the words “community”, “share”, “cooperate”,
or anything like these, will engender a response from the right that contains the word “socialism” and “redistribution of wealth” as matter of course.
Do they just think in terms of labels?
I suppose it’s easier than critical thinking.
Maybe it’s time for the left to dust off another old label, that we don’t hear much these days, and that may be little more truthful.
REACTIONARY
Reactionary is not the best word. Try regressive.
Boehner and his ilk want to take the US back to the days when big monopolies ruled and workers struggled to live.
Matt – open your window and let your neighbors in Boehner’s district know that their Rep wants to keep money away from the working guys who install weatherstripping and insulation. He is against making old folks more comfortable in bad weather and for keeping their utility bills high.
These guys get elected by working people and retired people who think that the Republican Party works for them. It’s time to let them know that the Republican Party works against them.
I’m looking for some good data on the comparison in job
creation between building new thermal (coal or nuclear) power plants and
efficiency/renewables.
I followed the links here and there was some stuff, but
I’m looking for a good graph comparison.
Grateful if anyone has any leads.
Expect Boehner and his GOP minions to suddenly discover thrift, after running the federal debt up over $10 trillion during the Bush adminstration, which helped drag us into the Bush Recession. Suddenly Bohener and his buddies have all become deficit hawks, after 8 years of fiscal debauchery. Anyone who believes they’re anything but raging partisan hyprocrites is delusional.