Senator Carper Pushes for Legislation to Put Americans to Work and Lower Energy Costs for Homeowners

WASHINGTON – Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) joined 16 other cosponsors and four sponsors, including Senators Jeff Bingaman, Olympia Snowe, Mark Warner and Lindsey Graham, in introducing revised bipartisan legislation which will create an estimated 168,000 direct new jobs while promoting home energy efficiency.  The Senators will work with the Administration, Senate leadership and Senate Finance Committee to identify offsets for funding authorized in the bill.  

Home energy retrofits are considered a win-win for their job generating potential in the depressed construction industry as well as for their energy savings benefits.   The Home Star program is designed to encourage new private investment in the hard-hit construction and manufacturing sectors while saving consumers money on their energy bills.  It provides strong short-term incentives for energy efficiency improvements in residential buildings to help spark more construction hiring and benefit home-improvement retailers, while also helping homeowners lower their utility costs and reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

"This is a common sense measure that will create jobs, save consumers’ money and help clean up the air we breathe," said Sen. Carper.  "The Home Star program would provide a welcome boost to our struggling construction and manufacturing businesses, putting skilled workers and certified contractors back to work retrofitting homes to make them more energy efficient. Home Star will also lower consumer energy costs and reduce our nation’s energy consumption.  After all, the cleanest, most affordable energy we have is the energy we never use. I will work closely with my colleagues to get this measure signed into law quickly." 

Home Star legislation is found on the Energy Committee’s website, http://energy.senate.gov.