Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s
Senator Jeff Merkley issued the following statement in response to President
Barack Obama’s remarks Tuesday at the Brookings Institute about creating
American jobs:
“Today,
President Obama advocated for new job creation strategies to help families
still suffering from unemployment and strengthen our economy. One of the
strategies the president mentioned was a program that would provide incentives
to consumers to make their homes more energy efficient.
“Buildings in every corner of America are
in need of energy efficient upgrades that can reduce energy consumption and
reduce energy bills. Renovating those buildings can create jobs in
construction and manufacturing right away, and it provides a second economic boost
by putting money back into the pockets of Americans through reductions in their
energy bills.“Incentives to encourage retrofits are a
good first step, but I encourage the Obama Administration to go further and
adopt a program to help families and small businesses pay for the renovations
by offering them low-cost loans that can be repaid out of the savings on their
energy bills. In August, I joined with Senator Lugar of Indiana to
introduce the Clean Energy for Homes and Buildings Act that would create such a
program nationally, and could serve as a model for how to create this program
in a jobs bill.“Oregon
has been leading the nation in developing these types of programs and has a
truly innovative program up and running that shows how state and local loan
programs make it affordable for families and building owners to make their
homes and businesses more energy efficient.
“President
Obama has it right – our focus right now has to be on creating jobs. All
the economic indicators in the world don’t mean a thing to families that, more
than a year after this recession began, are still struggling with the loss of a
job. By investing in energy-efficient upgrades for our homes and
businesses, we can help those families by providing paychecks and lowering
energy costs.”
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