Weatherization

These days, I am getting ready for the Legislative Conference and preparing for the release of the Administration’s budget. I spend all my time thinking about weatherization though. There are a lot of people participating in the advocacy arena in support of weatherization. When things are going well, these advocates work on getting our money or taking credit for our work. When the stimulus bill was passed, they wanted in on that funding. They wanted some of the regular appropriations. They went to Congress and took credit for the work. But when things get though, as they are now with the 2012 appropriations or with the Administration, suddenly no one is around. Yet, everyone is pointing at me and telling me to do a better job, telling me I have not done enough of this or that. This happens in Washington all the time.

Between Hill visits while walking between the Cannon House Building and my office or wherever I find myself, weatherization inevitably creeps into my mind. It is a strange thing and it seems as though it never ceases. During short breaks in my day, I want to be thinking of other things like baseball, the coming of spring, the political season. But Weatherization comes creeping to the forefront of my mind. 

I have been thinking about how to take a few steps back, take more responsibility for weatherization, reframe the arguments and approach our lobbying efforts differently. I think the arguments for the weatherization program that we currently use are tired and not effective.  A CAP agency can say that they are laying off four or six people in one congressional district as the result of funding cuts, but those numbers are not enough to turn a Member around. We need to be thinking about all the value we bring to a community. We need to find a way to describe that to Members. It is going to take a new approach, new arguments, and a new legislative strategy.