By Debra DeHaney-Howard and Crystal Swann
October 31, 2005

The U. S. Senate on October 26 rejected for a third time this month additional funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a program that is vital to providing home energy assistance to the nation’s neediest households. Senators Jack Reed (RI) and Susan Collins (ME) offered an amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriation legislation to increase LIHEAP funding by $3.1 billion. This would raise LIHEAP funding to the authorized level under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which the President signed into law in August 2005. The amendment fell six votes short of the sixty needed to overcome a procedural road block.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Senator Judd Gregg (NH) offered an alternative amendment that called for adding $1.27 billion to LIHEAP, which would be paid for by an across the board reduction in other Health and Human Service program. Gregg’s amendment was defeated by a vote of 53-46.

The Energy Information Agency (EIA) has forecast that home heating costs are expected to increase by as much as 50 percent this winter. This is on top of this year’s record level gas prices, which have severely impacted household budgets. Experts say that this winter could be the most expensive winter heating season in the nation’s history.

Commenting on the Senate’s actions, Conference of Mayors Executive Director Tom Cochran said, “Increased funding for LIHEAP is needed now more than ever. America’s poor can not go another winter season waiting for Congress to fully appropriate the funding necessary for this important program.” He further noted that “at this critical time, it is astonishing that the nation’s low and middle-income families will have to choose between heating their homes or purchasing food and medicine. Without additional funding for LIHEAP, an excessive financial burden will be placed on millions of families who least can afford it.”

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is a block grant program that was established in 1981 to assist low-income households in paying their home energy costs. Over the years, the Conference of Mayors has supported full funding for this program, including adopting policy at its 2005 Annual Meeting in Chicago calling on Congress to enact legislation that fully funds LIHEAP.

To learn more about resources for LIHEAP please contact the National Fuels Funds Network at (www.nationalfuelfunds.org).