NASCSP: Senator Coburn's 2011 'Wastebook' Misleads Americans About the Weatherization Assistance Program

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement has been made by the NASCSP:

Senator Tom Coburn's 2011 "Wastebook" is misleading and factually inaccurate in its assertion that the low-income Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) "lets taxpayer funds slip through the cracks." WAP has been a resounding success. The Recovery Act WAP only further proved this by improving the homes and lives of over 600,000 low-income families, exceeding the goals of President Obama's Administration while providing nearly 15,000 jobs, making it the seventh highest job creator funded by the Recovery Act.

The most egregious inaccuracy in the "Wastebook" is reflected in the title of Senator Coburn's attack on WAP. The program did not receive $231 million in 2011, as the title suggests -- it was allocated $174 million. The false claims continue as Senator Coburn asserts that WAP received $8.1 billion in Recovery Act funds, when in actuality it received $5 billion. Additionally, characterizing Recovery Act funding as "nearly eight times the normal amount of annual funding for weatherization purposes across all federal programs" is also not true. The network leverages significant funds from private and state sources, with 22% of the $1 billion Program Year (PY) 2011 funds coming from non-federal sources, which it continued to leverage over the Recovery Act period.

While there have been isolated incidents of work that did not meet Department of Energy (DOE) standards, to which States quickly responded, the overall program has exceeded expectations. The WAP network faced considerable administrative and managerial challenges in ramping up from a $250 million to a $5 billion program under the Recovery Act. The majority of the States proceeded quickly and with due caution to ensure accountability and quality work. This is a proven, effective program, and to disparage the whole on the part of a few is disingenuous and misleading.

Another fallacy promoted within the report is that WAP is a duplicative program. The energy efficiency improvements afforded to low-income families are not available elsewhere or through any other federal programs. In fact, WAP is meant to be a complementary program to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps in the short-term by mitigating energy bills. WAP acts as the long-term solution to the disproportionate energy burden faced by these families, who typically pay 14.4% of their incomes on energy, in contrast to 3.3% for moderate-income families.

WAP is heavily invested in training the emerging green workforce and is a key gateway for the expansion of the green residential energy efficiency market. The advanced diagnostics and technology employed by the program are truly state-of-the-art and enable measurable energy savings averaging 35% of pre-consumption, providing much needed relief for the extreme energy burden of the program's recipients.

Weatherization works, both for the households served and as a sound government investment. The program provides significant energy savings for its recipients, makes America's housing stock more energy efficient, improves the indoor air quality while reducing health and safety risks, provides jobs, reduces carbon emissions, and lessens America's dependence on foreign oil. Throughout its history, WAP has made a huge positive impact on over seven million families.

Contact: Rebecca Stewart
202.624.7887
[email protected]
http://www.nascsp.org

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SOURCE National Association for State Community Services Programs