Biden: $8 Billion in Stimulus Money for Energy Projects
EmailABC News’ Karen Travers reports: Vice President Biden announced today that nearly $8 billion of stimulus money will start flowing to state and local governments for weatherization efforts ($5 billion) and energy efficiency projects ($3 billion). The Obama administration says this money will put 87,000 Americans to work through partnerships with the Department of Energy and state and local governments. The first installment of this money, about $780 million, will be released in the next few days. The Energy Department intends to release additional funding after states demonstrate that they are using the funds “effectively and responsibly to create jobs and cut energy use.” The funding will go to weatherization of homes, including more insulation, sealing leaks and modernizing heating and air conditioning equipment, in order to cut energy costs. The Department of Energy estimates that this money will allow an average investment of up to $6,500 per home and will be available for families of four making up to $44,000 a year. Biden also announced that today the Department of Transportation is allocating the first funding for airport infrastructure projects, including $10 million to the Pittsburgh International Airport and $2 million to the Allegheny County Airport in Pennsylvania, to be used for runway, taxiway and ramp repair. Biden said that $1 billion from the stimulus money has been allocated for such projects at some of the 3,400 airports across country. At the White House this morning, Biden addressed officials from across the country who came to discuss the allocation and implementation of the stimulus money. The White House wants to hear from these officials on how they are spending this money and make sure it was being used to rebuild budgets and get people working. President Obama put Biden in charge of the oversight effort because “nobody messes with Joe.” Saying he was going to be blunt and go off-script, Biden warned against misuse of stimulus dollars and said the administration will be keeping a close eye on where the money was going. “All that is legal is not acceptable. Let me say it again: Just because it may be legal it is not acceptable,” Biden said, adding that tomorrow the president will announce regulations on how the stimulus money can be spent. “Little hint: No swimming pools in this money.” Biden repeatedly stressed that this massive federal spending is unique and requires discipline, accountability and transparency, which he said he will do as head of the oversight board. “This is not your usual federal grant going to the states,” Biden said. “Six months from now, if the verdict on this effort is that we’ve wasted the money, we built things that were unnecessary, or we’ve done things that are legal but make no sense, then, folks, don’t look for any help from the federal government for a long while.” “If we don’t get this right, folks, this is the end of the opportunity to convince the Congress that anything should go to the states,” he said. “Sheriff” Biden told state officials that if their governors have any problems, ring up the White House. “Tell your governors, literally, if they have a problem, if they’re confused, if you’re confused about what needs to be done, literally pick up the phone and call me. Call me,” the vice president said. — Karen Travers
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I work in green sector and that “weatherization efforts ($5 billion) ” that he is talking about relates to handful of companies that will benefit from this hand out and it WILL NOT create much new employment.
Sad, that they really don’t understand the reality of green technology in the real world.
Posted by: fried | March 12, 2009, 11:29 am 11:29 am
“including $10 million to the Pittsburgh International Airport”
Didn’t US Airways just depart Pittsburgh?
Posted by: drjohn | March 12, 2009, 11:55 am 11:55 am
Why, just yesterday $8 billion was a pittance. Not even worth a veto.
Today, $8 billion is an announcement. A victory. A real step forward.
Posted by: MayBee | March 12, 2009, 12:31 pm 12:31 pm
Fried- I find it very hard to believe that only a handful of companies would benefit from the weatherization program, as if window lining products are the domain of only a few stores and companies in the nation. How can anyone who supposedly works in the green sector make that kind of assertion and downplay the double befits of low income families being helped with energy costs along with the reduction of use on resources?
Posted by: kat the real one | March 12, 2009, 1:02 pm 1:02 pm
This is not your usual federal grant going to the states,” Biden said. “Six months from now, if the verdict on this effort is that we’ve wasted the money, we built things that were unnecessary, or we’ve done things that are legal but make no sense, then, folks, don’t look for any help from the federal government for a long while.”
Talk about the all time Bluff!!!!
Like if a state blow the money, no more federal aid…..
That will last about as long as it will take the voters to organize.
Posted by: Mike_C | March 12, 2009, 1:31 pm 1:31 pm
I am amazed Obama lets Biden say anything.
Posted by: I can Hear Biden from my House | March 12, 2009, 2:31 pm 2:31 pm
First off – I believe Global Warming is a very serious “Very Real- Man Induced” problem.
However, I do not believe the US is to blame. All we did was develop technologies that the rest of the world would have, if they could have. We were, and are, simply more technologically advanced[ [and the world is very jealous of this, and therefore all the criticism, not to mention that we are the worlds only Superpower, and the world is also jealous of that. Kyoto is as much an attempt to undermine our economy as an attempt to solve Global Warming. Much of the world is just using it as an Economic Tool against us – and many people in the US see this for exactly what it is, Hypocrisy,….. and much of the world knows we know. Probably the main reason even Clinton and Gore would not truly support Kyoto]].
Having a degree in Natural Resources I think the evidence (about global warming) is very Clear and Convincing ‘today’. However, I was not really sure until about 1995, even though I started seeing strong evidence around about 1985. At that point a noticeable warm up started (at least where I was living, & others said they noticed it also, in my area & elsewhere). In my opinion the evidence gradually got stronger till 95, when I thought the evidence was strong enough (and has only gotten stronger, today it is downright scary – the Arctic Ice Cap Meltdown – not funny). So, I really don’t think you can blame us till then (95), and many still don’t (or don’t want to) see it, & not just in the US. However, since 95 the US has made many moves (on many fronts) to combat the problem, and many other countries are dragging their feet, or have been given a free pass (the main Kyoto problem). One of the biggest examples here is China…..but there are others.
The world says it is our Industry that caused the problem (they don’t talk about Britain, and other Industrialized nations as much), but it is also probably mostly ‘Our Technology’ that is going to solve it……………….[I could also throw in many examples of other countries stealing our technology on the international market (weak international patent protections, and many anti-US countries want it that way), the vast majority of SE Asian Industries are built on Appropriated US Technology……. Etc., Etc…………………….…
Our Technology and Industry also saved the world in WWI, WWII, and the Cold War (not to mention other situations). If we had not spent all those years developing various Industries, and Aircraft, & Jeeps, & Tanks, & Ships the afore-mentioned wars would have been lost [[prior to Pearl Harbor the only modern Fighter Plane in SE Asia, other than a Japanese model, was the P-40 Curtis Hawk (Flying Tigers), not a great plane but it kept China from falling]]. We had to use Trains & Trucks to move parts from factory to factory. It took factories to build trains & trucks also, and they had to burn fuel (all this putting carbon in the atmosphere, etc). All those planes, & jeeps, & tanks, & ships etc also burned fuel etc., etc., etc. Not to mention when ours, or the other side’s material got destroyed & released carbon.
Our Industry saved the world on several occasions, and continues to as ‘Our Agriculture’ saves substantial portions of the planet from starvation every year (also, we have established MANY Democracies around the world,….. how many has Russia or China established !!!). So when people talk about this situation as if we are the only beneficiaries, of such Industrialization, they should look at history again, more objectively. If not for us, much of the world could today be under Japanese Imperialism, or Nazism, or USSR domination……… or Starvation……….’Comprende’.
The rest of the world has ‘As Much a Responsibility’ to solve this problem as we do,
So, THEY SHOULD STOP BALKING, and cut the EXCUSES.
Posted by: Mr Reality | March 12, 2009, 2:37 pm 2:37 pm
Maybe collective farms would be a good way to conserve energy.
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | March 12, 2009, 4:59 pm 4:59 pm
Global warming is a “THEORY”…..
A hoax designed for the government to pass legistlation…you would’nt ordinaraly swallow……
Al Gore believed in it so much….he has been squandering energy resourses to live in a huge energy wasting mansion….
Go to ….snopes.com…..type in… Al Gores house….
Posted by: J Moore | March 13, 2009, 6:04 am 6:04 am
When you give money to someone like Murtha, for an airport rarely used, what can you expect from Washington? “You pat my back, I will pat yours!” That is the way Washington is run.
Posted by: Zenith | May 12, 2009, 9:20 am 9:20 am
How is Biden planning to keep a watchful eye over all these projects? The usual players are not equipped to do the neccessary social and environmental impact monitoring and evaluation that will be needed to measure the broader returns that these projects are designed to generate…
Posted by: Johanna | May 12, 2009, 1:42 pm 1:42 pm
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Posted by: Jerald Chinskey | September 28, 2011, 8:31 am 8:31 am