Congressman Peter Welch has come up on the losing end in the Republican-controlled U.S. House in his effort to preserve funding for energy efficiency programs.
Welch offered an amendment Tuesday to restore funding to energy efficiency, but it was voted down. Welch says an energy and water appropriations bill cuts funding for energy efficiency by 27 percent.
Affected programs include fuel efficient vehicle technologies, bio-refinery research and development and home weatherization assistance.
Welch calls the decision penny wise and pound foolish. He says energy efficiency spending creates American manufacturing and contracting jobs, and that jobs are what the economy needs right now.