"We're going to weatherize homes, that immediately puts people back to work and we're going to train people who are out of work, including young people, to do the weatherization. As a consequence of weatherization, our energy bills go down and we reduce our dependence on foreign oil. What would be a more effective stimulus package than that?"
Why wait for the Senate to act? Let's act ourselves and begin to provide our own stimulus package by organizing weatherization barnraisings. In Cambridge, MA, Home Energy Efficiency Team has been doing weatherization barnraisings once a month for the past six months. The latest barnraising was the first on public institutions rather than private homes. 92 people came out on the snowy Sunday before the Inauguration and weatherized the Cambridgeport School and the Margaret Fuller Neighborhood House.
You want a practical stimulus bill to be signed into law? Show the Repubs and Blue Dogs exactly what we need and that we can do it ourselves if they won't get out of the way.
I'd like to see Obama lead a weatherization barnraising on the White House with a full media blitz including "This Old House", "Extreme Home Makeover", HGTV, as well as the usual suspects.
Solar barnraisings, such as the ones we did 30 years ago, would be good too.