Federal heating aid funds increased by $545M

WASHINGTON – The Department of Health and Human Services appears to have conceded in its dispute with northeastern lawmakers over funding for the federal program that provides low-income families with home heating aid.

Funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, has been a major disagreement between the White House and legislators from cold-weather states, including Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Maine Republicans.

In early October, HHS released its first quarterly amount of funding of more than $800 million, insisting that until the final appropriations bill for the coming fiscal year was completed, allocations would be based on the administration’s proposed budget total, about $1.4 billion. But two days ago, HHS released another $545 million to the LIHEAP program, bringing its funding for the year so far to $1.38 billion – meaning the program is likely to finish the fiscal year with allocations closer to northeastern legislators’ desired total of $1.7 billion.

In the latter half of the year, the money is mostly given to southern states to help poor residents deal with warm temperature extremes.

“If you’re in Maine or Pennsylvania, you’ve gotten most of your allocation by now,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association.

“I’m pleased that the administration has announced its intention to release $545 million to the states,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. “Nothing like taking it right down to the wire.”

Congress and the administration still have to hammer out the final appropriations language, however, and northeastern legislators disagree with the White House’s standards for releasing emergency funding.

Standing on a slush-covered platform across the street from a Senate office building Wednesday, several New England lawmakers said the federal home heating assistance program needs more funding to deal with a variety of factors, including higher oil prices, higher unemployment, and colder weather.

Snowe said her state had received 43,000 applications for heating assistance by the end of December, nearly as many as it received all of last winter, about 46,000. Snowe and Collins were at a Senate Republican conference during Wednesday morning’s press conference, but both senators issued statements.

“While cold weather in Maine is a fact of life in the winter months, the early onset of wintry weather in October forced residents – particularly the elderly, who live on fixed incomes – to begin the home heating season earlier than normal,” Snowe said in the statement.

Dave Lackey, a spokesman for Snowe, pointed out that Bush endorsed full funding for LIHEAP during a presidential debate in October 2000.

“First and foremost, we’ve got to make sure we fully fund LIHEAP, which is a way to help low-income folks, particularly here in the East, to pay for their high fuel bills,” Bush said in an Oct. 3 debate in Boston.

“The high price of fuel places a particularly high burden on our nation’s most vulnerable citizens,” said Collins in a statement. “No one should have to choose between heating their homes or putting food on the table, prescriptions in the medicine cabinet, or even staying in their homes altogether.”

Sen. Jim Jeffords, the Vermont independent, said the temperature in Washington during the press event, in the 40s, seemed “balmy” by New England standards, but that winter was far from over in Vermont and other northern parts of the country.

“Often we like to have our events in an environment that illustrates the point,” said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass. “Right now, as many as 500,000 households nationwide are at risk of losing heating assistance entirely this winter, while other households may see their monthly benefit significantly reduced.”