Providing For Considereation Of H.R. 5019, Home Star Energy Retrofit Act Of 2010

Floor Speech

Mr. WELCH. I thank the gentlelady from California. I appreciate her leadership in the committee and also in the Rules Committee. I want to thank Chairman Markey and Chairman Waxman for their leadership.

Let me talk a little bit about why Home Star makes sense. This is a partnership. Government is putting up some money but homeowners are going to make decisions about refitting their homes and insulating them. Businesses are going to make decisions about taking on those jobs. Our local retail outlets are going to sell the product. Ninety percent of the product they sell is manufactured in America. So it's creating jobs here.

It does the three things that need to be done. It helps us with economic recovery, putting 170,000 folks to work; helps homeowners save money; and it helps us move towards energy independence. A confident nation doesn't shrink from the challenges it faces; it attacks them directly. Energy independence, job creation, cleaning our air, those are all very important.

This is bipartisan, too. I want to acknowledge the extraordinary work that was done by VERN EHLERS in cosponsoring this legislation. I want to thank former Governor of Michigan John Engler, who was an outstanding advocate for this program. I also want to thank Mr. Barton and the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, who made a good bill better by their contributions. Mr. Barton insisted that we engage in this bill. He made positive suggestions that we included. Mr. Shadegg suggested we add electric tankless hot water heaters. A good suggestion. We included it. Mr. Shimkus suggested geothermal heat pumps. We included it. Mr. Buyer included an important study to verify that this works. We did it. Mr. Whitfield and Mr. Murphy both supported this in committee. And I want to say that I appreciate the constructive engagement by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

There's been a concern expressed--and a valid concern--about spending. There's wise spending and there's wasteful spending. If we have a family that's on a tight budget and they blow what money they have to go on a vacation they can't afford, that's wasteful. But if that family foregoes the vacation and puts that money into renovating and insulating their home so that they can save some cash, not just this year but next year and the year after, that's wise spending.

This bill will be paid for. This is authorization only. The next step will require that we have a pay-for. The pledge is and the requirement on us will be to make certain that happens. So this will be paid for, but this is in the category, very much, of wise investment and solid investment.

I urge support for Home Star because it is a concrete step that's simple partnership between the government, with a light hand providing an incentive, a point-of-sale rebate that is going to give the upfront money to our homeowners that aren't buying new homes but want to save money by refitting and insulating the homes they have. It puts the local contractors to work. It's our local hardware stores that will make the sales.

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