Thursday, February 18, 2010

Stimulus weatherization program not accomplishing much

"Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future --jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced."
Barack Obama, January 8, 2010.

Once again, from ABC News:

A $5 billion federal weatherization program intended to save energy and create jobs has done little of either, according to a new report obtained by ABC News on the one-year anniversary of President Obama's American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

Only 9,100 homes had been weatherized nationwide as of Dec. 31, according to the new report by the Government Accountability Office, to be released Thursday.

The Department of Energy, which runs the program, said it actually weatherized more than 22,000 homes last year with Recovery Act funds. Either way, it's a far cry from the 593,000 that the government plans to complete during the course of the Recovery Act, which runs through March 2012.

I think it's a reasonably safe assumption that this stimulus program hasn't created very many jobs either.

UPDATE 10:20pm: Click here for the ABC News video report.

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