Back in October, a government report called Recovery Through Retrofit highlighted the benefits and barriers to making weatherization a more robust component of the energy efficiency industry.

By mid-November, the White House was developing a stimulus plan, now known as Cash for Caulkers, that would, as GBA noted in an earlier post, help demystify weatherization for homeowners, help contractors market a new set of government incentives to weatherize, and create a rush to retrofit that, if things go as hoped, would replicate the enthusiasm that greeted the Cash for Clunkers program for used cars.

The Cash for Caulkers concept got another boost this week when President Obama, during address at the Brookings Institution, talked further about creating incentives – mainly through a stimulus-funded rebate program – for homeowners to retrofit their way to greater energy efficiency.

Balancing the practical and visionary

Underpinning this and all other stimulus plans, of course, is the ongoing, increasingly pressing need to create long-term jobs and boost the economy. Stimulus programs so far have been working moderately well, although some, notably the expansion of the Weatherization Assistance Program, have rolled out more slowly than expected. And even though it’s not certain Cash for Caulkers would be greeted as enthusiastically by consumers as Cash for Clunkers, the White House and many Democrats in Congress are looking for a program that embraces their economic and ecological goals but also produces results relatively quickly.

It’s a tall order. As noted in a story by the Associated Press, a White House-led jobs forum on December 3 – which included more than 120 labor, industry, and local officials – featured remarks by Obama in which he acknowledged the “tension” between projects that can put people to work quickly, which tend to require upkeep and repair work, and the more “visionary” projects that require planning and time to implement but don’t produce jobs as fast.

Support for Cash for Caulkers concepts nonetheless appears to be gaining steam outside Washington, at least in some sectors. Bloomberg News posted a story on Wednesday noting that a Cash for Caulkers program likely would increase sales of Dow Chemical’s foam insulation, sealants, tapes, and adhesives, and would likewise boost sales at home-improvement retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe’s. Representative Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, told Bloomberg he proposed $20 billion in energy efficiency rebates over two years in an October 29 memo to Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. The rebates would put 600,000 to 850,000 Americans to work retrofitting 5 million homes and saving $3.3 billion in energy costs, Welch said.

Political caulking

Beyond putting together a workable and swiftly acting program, though, the White House and Congress have some political maneuvering to do to get a law passed. During a bipartisan meeting on Wednesday to discuss job-creation proposals, Obama and Congressional Republican leaders disagreed openly about the administration’s desire to spend more money for stimulus programs designed to reduce unemployment. And in an op-ed piece published in the Washington Post, the House Republican Leader, John Boehner, who attended the meeting on Wednesday, said the White House plans amounted to a “job-killing agenda” – a phrase used frequently by Republicans on the Hill.

But the current administration long ago became accustomed – though not indifferent – to starkly adversarial politics in Congress, and the White House message on a prospective Cash for Caulkers program remained intact.

“I’ve called on Congress to provide temporary incentives for consumers to buy the materials needed to retrofit their homes for greater energy efficiency,” the President said in remarks after the meeting. “This program will spur hiring and spending, promote energy conservation, and help Americans put more money in their pockets by saving on their energy bills. I’ve also proposed that we extend proven initiatives that promote energy efficiency and clean energy jobs.”

Democrats, meanwhile, appear likely to tack a $70 billion jobs bill onto the defense appropriations bill moving through the House of Representatives, the Post noted in another piece posted on Friday. Specifics about the package, however, were not yet available.