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Obama Pushes To Create New Jobs
Looking for new ways to help plug the leaky job market, President Obama pressed Congress to provide money to homeowners to improve energy efficiency -- and the economy -- by replacing doors, caulking windows and padding their attics with more insulation. Obama admitted that the "idea may not be very glamorous," but declared Tuesday that he found insulation "sexy." Lawmakers also are getting excited by the concept, which they said could help create badly needed jobs for the beleaguered building trades. Some supporters have dubbed the program "cash for caulkers" because it would use direct government incentives to consumers to spur economic activity, similar in some respects to the popular "cash for clunkers" rebates that sparked a surge in auto sales last summer. Under one proposal being considered by House Democratic leaders, $20 billion from February's economic stimulus package would be used to offer incentives of $1,000 to more than $3,000 for people to apply to projects that improve the energy efficiency of their homes. About 5 million homes could be retrofitted under the program, saving homeowners a total of $3.3 billion annually on energy bills, supporters said. "If you saw $20 bills just sort of floating through the window up into the atmosphere, you'd try to figure out how you were going to keep that," he said. "But that's exactly what's happening because of the lack of efficiency in our buildings." The idea is simple, he said: The incentives would increase consumer spending, helping create jobs at retailers such as Home Depot and for contractors who would do the weatherization work. The program also would help consumers save on their heating and electricity bills as well, saving on the nation's energy use. Australia launched a similar program aimed at retrofitting 2.9 million homes that it projects will create 4,000 jobs.
"It makes sense because it's a win-win-win," said Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), who proposed such a program last winter. "Our U.S. manufacturers are the ones that produce about 85% of the product. It's our local contractors that do 100% of the work." Welch's proposal was included in climate change legislation passed by the House this year that would take effect in 2012. The Senate has not acted on that legislation. But Welch and other lawmakers recently have been pushing to offer weatherization incentives immediately as a way to create 600,000 to 850,000 new jobs. Former President Clinton and Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr also have been promoting versions of such a program. Environmental groups, labor unions and construction groups support the concept, along with building supply dealers and manufacturers. "This is the kind of thinking that is going to get America back to work -- and make a big difference in many homeowners' monthly utility bills," said Joe Robson, chairman of the National Assn. of Home Builders. But auto dealers complained about balky government computer systems and slow reimbursements with that program. And some Republicans are critical of a cash-for-caulkers program. They said the cash-for-clunkers program paid money mostly to people who intended to buy cars anyway and argued that $5 billion in weatherization funds in the $787-billion economic stimulus package passed in February hasn't helped reduce unemployment. Obama said the new weatherization program is among several "strategic surgical steps" he is pushing to help create jobs as the unemployment rate remains at 10% despite a return to economic growth after the deep recession. He sketched those ideas in a speech last week and added more detail to the cash-for-caulkers concept Tuesday. Obama was joined at the event by Frank Blake, chief executive of Home Depot, and Michael Thaman, chief executive of insulation-maker Owens Corning, as well as workers from the Laborers' International Union of North America. Obama said Owens Corning had seen an increase in exports of insulation to Australia because of that country's weatherization incentive program. Thaman said afterward that he could not quantify the increase, but said he expected to see growth in the U.S. as well for its domestically produced insulation. "We believe if there were a direct incentive to homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, that would result in a nice uptick in demand for insulation. And obviously we think that's both good policy and good for Owens Corning," Thaman said.
Global warming talks Equals friction between US and China
Nobody said crafting a new global warming treaty would be easy. During the first four days of talks here aimed at building a truly global agreement to combat global warming, China has lashed out at the US, Europe, and Japan for offering what it sees as inadequate emissions targets.
The head of a bloc of developing countries, known as the G-77, has lashed out at – among others – the Danes, hosts of this gathering, for circulating a draft treaty that the G-77 finds flawed. Meanwhile, US officials have pointed to China's anticipated growth over the next several decades and says that math, not politics, is driving Washington's insistence that China offer more than it has on greenhouse-gas control efforts – and that what they do must be verifiable from beyond the Great Wall. Tiny Tuvalu, speaking for small-island nations, insists that any agreement this meeting achieves by Dec. 18 must be legally binding, and not a mere political agreement, since the survival of many island cultures hang in the balance.
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