TIGHT OR TIGHTEN UP

Those controlling the public purse strings are often exhorted – correctly – to tighten up government spending. But the federal assistance program that pays for poor and middle income people to tighten up their houses against the cold is not where such fiscal restraint should come.

A bill put forward by the Bush administration’s Energy Department that is now before the Senate calls for spending $201 million on the weatherization program, which is $26 million less than fiscal year 2008 and $40 million less than provided for in fiscal year 2007. Earlier this year, President Bush proposed eliminating the program altogether, The Associated Press reports.

Sen. Susan Collins and her colleagues from cold-weather states are opposing the proposed cuts. In a letter to the Appropriations Committee, Sen. Collins and the others argue that this winter is the wrong time to consider spending less money on improving the heating efficiency of low- and middle-income residents. Sen. Collins said if anything, spending should be doubled on the program.

Many who live in northern-tier states like Maine are looking for a silver bullet heating source to combat the high oil or gas bills they anticipate this winter. There is a feeding frenzy of sorts on pellet stoves, firewood and new natural gas connections to homes.

Yet home improvement experts – such as BDN columnist Tom Gocze – argue that a more prudent focus for a homeowner is to improve the building’s capacity to hold heat. That means more roof, wall, floor and foundation insulation, caulking or applying spray foam to cracks and door and window seals, and upgrading windows and doors where financially feasible. Every $100 spent on tightening up a home yields fuel cost savings year after year, Mr. Gocze wisely preaches.

The National Energy Assistance Directors Association estimates next winter’s home heating costs will increase by more than $1,000 over last year for those who use oil heat, the AP reports. Congress has increased funding for the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, which helps poor homeowners and renters buy heating fuel. But the other side of the equation is protecting that investment by helping those same people weatherize their houses.

Improving a home to more effectively retain heat is conservatism at its most basic. Helping poorer people save that heat makes it compassionate conservatism.