WASHINGTON, DC - In an effort to prevent millions of Americans from being left out in the cold this winter, U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) are leading the effort to restore funding for the Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP is a federal block grant program that provides states with annual funding to operate home energy assistance programs for seniors and low-income households.

Due to elevated prices of energy and high unemployment levels, for the last two years Senators Reed and Snowe have led the effort to secure $5.1 billion annually for LIHEAP to help more than 8.8 million low-income households nationwide, including over 37,000 in Rhode Island and 63,000 in Maine. However, as a result of the failure to enact appropriations bills, the funding level for the program this year is unclear, resulting in an initial allocation 40 percent lower than last year's levels.

Today, Senators Reed, Snowe, and 44 of their colleagues are sending a bipartisan letter urging the Appropriations Committee to provide certainty to the program as we enter the winter months and extend last year's level of funding for LIHEAP in any final appropriations bill for the entire fiscal year 2011.

"We need to do everything we can to ensure that families, especially those with children and elderly residents, can stay safe and warm during the winter. Allowing LIHEAP to be slashed when so many families are desperate for assistance would give new meaning to the term ‘cold-hearted.' Congress needs to act now to restore this funding and help our states and community partners provide families with the assistance they need during the cold weather months," said Reed, noting that Rhode Island received over $33.6 million in LIHEAP funding last year.

"With heating oil prices 11 percent higher than last year while Maine's unemployment level remains near 8 percent, the LIHEAP program regrettably will be the only means for thousands of Mainers to stay warm during the upcoming winter months. Heating is not a luxury, it is a necessity, and LIHEAP, a program that I have supported my entire Congressional career, often serves as the only means to guarantee home heating in tough economic times. Given the economic condition of our country and the State of Maine, I believe that we should maintain the current level of a critical program," said Senator Snowe.

With the economy still sputtering, LIHEAP applications are expected to jump again this year as more than 10 million American households are expected to need help with winter energy bills.

Even though LIHEAP funding is in limbo, residents can still call their local Community Action Program (CAP) Agencies to apply for assistance. Once enrolled in the program, individuals may work out a payment plan that protects them from having their utilities disconnected through the coldest winter months.

The text of the letter follows:

November 22, 2010

The Honorable Daniel Inouye and Thad Cochran
Chairman & Ranking Member
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Tom Harkin
Chairman
Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education, and Related Agencies
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Inouye, Ranking Member Cochran, and Chairman Harkin:

We write to thank you for your consistent support of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and to request that you maintain level funding for the program.

As you know, on October 28th, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released block grant assistance to states under the Continuing Resolution (CR), which funds the federal government at Fiscal Year 2010 levels through December 3rd. Although the CR funded LIHEAP at last year's level of $5.1 billion, due to the differences in discretionary spending levels reported in the House and Senate, HHS provided grants to states based upon the lower reported value. The results have been devastating for our states during a period when we are entering the coldest months of the year and facing increased heating bills, in particular for homes heated with heating oil, which face a 12 percent increase in costs, as forecasted by the Energy Information Administration. Consequently, unless Congress maintains fiscal year 2010 funding levels for this critical program, the average LIHEAP block grant to states will be cut by 40 percent.

This is a challenging time for low-income Americans. With the unemployment rate at 9.6% nationwide and 42.4 million people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) support in August, another record and a 50% increase over 2008, maintaining full funding for LIHEAP is essential. The U.S. Census recently reported that 43.6 million people were counted as poor in the United States, or one in seven Americans, the largest number in the measure's 50-year recorded history.

Given the unique structure of the program, unless we finalize funding for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011 now, the millions of Americans who need help paying their energy bills this winter could see no additional assistance. As such, under any appropriations bill that Congress considers prior to the expiration of the CR, we would request that you extend LIHEAP's funding through September 30th, 2011, at last year's funding levels. This would provide stability to the program and allow HHS to allocate LIHEAP funds in a timely manner to provide vital heating assistance this winter.

Again, we want to thank you for your commitment to helping low-income families cope during this tough economic climate, and look forward to working together in a fiscally responsible manner to address this serious issue.


Sincerely,

Reed
Snowe
Collins
Sherrod Brown
Leahy
Bond
Mikulski
Lugar
Kohl
Scott Brown
Murray
Murkowski
Lautenberg
Johnson
Landrieu
Dodd
Sanders
Shaheen
Schumer
Lieberman
Feingold
Kerry
Bingaman
Levin
Gillibrand
Whitehouse
Burris
Wyden
McCaskill
Casey
Menendez
Cantwell
Franken
Bennet
Stabenow
Klobuchar
Begich
Rockefeller
Cardin
Webb
Tester
Merkley
Lincoln