WASHINGTON – Maine will receive an additional $1.3 million in federal heating assistance, U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe announced Tuesday. The money comes as part of an additional $50 million in emergency funds from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program released Tuesday. The funds help low-income families pay their heating bills.

These latest funds come on the heels of $100 million in LIHEAP funding the Bush administration released last month. The decision to release both rounds of funding came after Snowe joined a bipartisan group of more than 40 senators who sent a letter to President Bush urging him to provide the funding.

The government forecasts that heating oil expenditures by households are expected to average 34 percent above last winter’s levels, expenditures for propane-heated households are expected to be 20 percent higher and costs for natural-gas heating are expected to rise by 10 percent.