[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16736]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      ENERGY EFFICIENT APPLIANCES

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, first of all, I thank Senator Carper for 
his presentation and his wisdom. I appreciate that.
  I rise tonight very briefly to express hope that is contained in an 
amendment I have. I know we have an agreement in place, and this is for 
the purpose of talking about this amendment as opposed to formally 
speaking on it.
  This is a very simple amendment I have. It is an idea I had based on 
some of my work in State government. It is simply to do this, to offer 
a proposal that allows low-income families to purchase home appliances 
which are energy efficient and that will allow them to not only heat 
their homes or wash their clothes or use other appliances but to do it 
in an energy-efficient way.
  It is based upon my experience in State government, as a State 
treasurer, where we started a program in Pennsylvania called Keystone 
Help, back in the last couple of years. Right now, that program has 
helped people in 60 out of our 67 counties. It is simple.
  What the Federal version of this would do is to dedicate $4 million 
over 5 years. It is not a lot of money, and it is paid for by the 
current $750-million-per-year authorization for weatherization programs 
in the Federal Government. So it is just $4 million out of the $750 
million that is already in the bill and already paid for.
  These funds would be used to help low-income families purchase Energy 
Star certified appliances. This means they have been certified by the 
Department of Energy for their energy-efficient qualities.
  Here is what the appliances are that would be allowed to be paid for 
out of the money applied in this program: refrigerators, water heaters, 
washers and dryers, home heating systems and air-conditioning--basic 
necessities of life in America today.
  The amendment would also require that the families who receive these 
grants out of the $4 million of grant money over 5 years provide a 5-
percent match that they would have to come up with. I recognize for a 
lot of families even a 5-percent match is a lot of money. An extra $50 
or so, depending on the amount of money, would be significant. But I 
think it is important that families have that requirement.
  There are some families who will not be able to meet that, so we 
allow charitable assistance or State and local initiatives to come up 
with the 5 percent.
  But I wish to make one point among several. First of all, this is not 
a new program in the sense that it requires a big expenditure of money 
or requires administrative work that cannot already be done within the 
existing weatherization program. The grants in this amendment are 
intended to work as a complement to and work within the current 
weatherization program. The amendment will not increase administrative 
costs and it will not require new expenditures of dollars. It is within 
the $750 million already allocated for weatherization.
  I believe this amendment, and the features of this program called for 
by this amendment, helps families. It helps our low-income families pay 
for Energy Star certified appliances for their homes. It helps the 
environment. It is good all around.
  We already have a program that helps these same families properly 
insulate and weatherize their homes. What this does is take the next 
step. We should take that next step to help low-income families use 
less energy for the basic necessities of heating and cooling their 
homes as well as laundry and some other basic necessities.
  I hope the managers on both sides of the aisle, I hope both parties, 
can agree to adopt this. It may not happen, but I am hopeful that will 
happen tomorrow.

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