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As all Mainers know far too well, our winters are
long and cold – and this one is still far from over.
While our temperatures continue to stay low, our
home heating oil prices continue to stay almost
unaffordably high. Low-income families, senior
citizens, and disabled individuals have been
especially hard-hit. They often bear an unfair
burden spending up to 17 percent of their income on
home energy bills and each year this burden grows as
natural gas, heating oil and propane prices continue
to increase.
In 1981, Congress took a common sense
step by instituting the Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program (LIHEAP). This federally-funded
program is essential to ensuring that low-income
families across the nation are able to afford to
heat and cool their homes during the winter and
summer months. Each year, almost 5 million
low-income households across the country receive
LIHEAP assistance. Without this funding, many
families would be forced to make impossible
decisions between heating their homes and other
necessities such as food, rent and prescription
drugs.
Since 2001, average household heating oil
expenditures have risen from $627 to $1,474; natural
gas from $465 to $1000; and propane from $736 to
$1,286. On top of this, since the winter of
2001-2002 to this year’s winter, the LIHEAP program
has decreased its buying power for a household’s
annual heating oil cost from 50.9% to 19.5%. In
dollar terms, this means that Americans that qualify
and receive money from the LIHEAP program are paying
roughly $847 more than they did in 2001. This spike
in prices has left eleven states across the country
including Maine without any more winter heating
funds for this winter. But in personal terms for
families with low-incomes and elderly on fixed
incomes, this increase is often more than they can
bear.
Unfortunately, this essential program
has historically been vastly underfunded, but in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina when our energy costs
soared, I became determined to make sure that was
not the case this year. Before Congress recessed
last year, I forged an agreement with Senate
Majority Bill Frist (R-TN) and Minority Leader Harry
Reid (D-NV) for a Senate vote on an emergency bill
to provide additional funding for LIHEAP. The
legislation that I authored provides $1 billion in
funding for LIHEAP for Fiscal Year 2006. On March 2nd
of this year, the Senate finally passed my emergency
funding bill which will make funding quickly
available to help cold weather states like Maine.
The Senate has done the right thing by passing
emergency LIHEAP legislation to help families
struggling with record-high fuel prices keep warm
this winter. A cold winter is still a reality in
many states, and the remaining cold weather months
threatened countless Mainers and Americans faced
with high fuel prices and LIHEAP funding that has
already run out. I am pleased that the tireless work
of a group of committed Senators and our Senate
leadership has resulted in the additional resources
that will keep so many low-income families and
seniors warm this winter. We set out to secure
immediate LIHEAP funding for cold weather states
like Maine and the Senate has finally accomplished
that goal.
LIHEAP’s value cannot be overstated since it
provides a vital safety net for the nation’s
low-income households and works to help them
maintain economic stability. There should be no
question about what to do when it comes to helping
our most vulnerable citizens survive throughout the
remainder of this winter and I applaud my colleagues
for doing the right thing and funding this vital
program. Given the efficacy and importance of LIHEAP,
I pledge to continue my fight for low-income fuel
assistance throughout my tenure in the Senate.
Individuals interested in applying for LIHEAP
assistance should contact their local/state LIHEAP
agency or click on the agency directory at:
www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/liheap/directry.htm.
The directory can help people locate the state or
tribal office that administers LIHEAP funds in
communities across the country.
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