Thaindian News

CARNEGIE, PENNSYLVANIA (BNO NEWS) – The Federal Recovery program has helped to stabilize the state’s economy and save money by making Pennsylvania homes more energy efficient, one year after the Recovery Act was established, Governor Edward Rendell announced on Thursday.

Gov. Rendell visited homes of Pennsylvania citizens in order to check the progress obtained by means of this program. The Governor showed how the Recovery Act is helping people and is lowering home energy bills while creating jobs for the unemployed,

“Today, higher energy costs mean more people need help to stretch their budgets. With the help of the federal Recovery Act that President Obama signed one year ago this week, we’re able to help more families do that because of the substantial commitment the stimulus act made to weatherization programs,” Gov. Rendell said.

Pennsylvania will receive $253 million over the next three years through the Weatherization Assistance Program. It was the fourth-largest allocation just behind New York, Texas and Ohio.

One of the agencies contracted has already completed 136 the weatherization of homes and is expected to have 360 homes underway. That increased demand has led the organization and its partners to bring on additional workers.

“At a time when our nation was grappling with the greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression, these funds were literally providing a lifeline and saving jobs,” Gov. Rendell said. “Our state lost 4,300 jobs in the final quarter of 2009, but if not for the stimulus, we estimate that as many as 12,000 jobs would have been lost. If we didn’t have the $2 billion state fiscal relief that stimulus provided, we would have had to lay off 37,000 state employees to balance the budget.”

“It’s clear that the Recovery program is working, despite what the doubters say.”