AUGUSTA – Poor Mainers may get some extra help paying their heating bills this winter under a deal reached by Senate leaders and senators from Northern states, including Maine’s two senators. The agreement will allow a separate vote on emergency aid of $2 billion in late January.

“I told them I would stay right through Christmas Day until I got an agreement,” Sen. Olympia Snowe said in an interview. “It was a lengthy negotiation, but we have the agreement of the floor leaders to bring this up as a separate appropriation.”

Snowe said that as soon as she realized the $2 billion in funds for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program had been removed from the Department of Defense appropriations bill, she went to the floor and started the negotiations that went through the night.

“Senator [Norm] Coleman [R-Minn.) and Senator [Susan] Collins joined the discussions with the floor leaders,” she said. “We made it very clear how important this was to us.”

Collins said the three lawmakers were “very insistent” that a commitment be reached for additional funds. She said the regular appropriation for LIHEAP aid may well run out before the end of January.

“We need these funds right now, “she said. “This is a very high priority, and we have a firm commitment from the leaders to have this vote before the end of January.”

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told the lawmakers they will support the measure after Senate consideration of the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito in January.

“If something does happen in the confirmation process it could slow down the consideration of the bill, but I don’t think that will happen,” Snowe said.

Both senators also are concerned about the language that distributes the money under the legislation and with good reason. The $1 billion in additional funds added by the House in a measure still pending before Congress would go mostly to Southern states.

An analysis of the House-passed annual appropriation for the program by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, indicates Maine will receive only an additional $1 million in the current budget year under the formula in the bill. But South Carolina will see its funding swell from $15 million for the 2005 budget year to $39 million for the 2006 budget year.

LIHEAP not only provides heating assistance, it also helps poor people keep cool during the summer in Southern states. The study criticized the formula the House adopted, pointing out that electricity rates are expected to increase slightly while heating costs have skyrocketed.

“It’s important that we not only get the funding commitment but that we get a formula that is based on needs,” Collins said. “In the winter months, there can be no doubt that there is need for low-income families and our senior citizens in cold-weather states. With the cost of home heating oil in particular and natural gas going sky high, this assistance is needed right now.”

By Jan. 1, state officials expect to have spent three-quarters of the money received from the feds for LIHEAP this year.

Both senators believe the House will go along with the stand-alone appropriation for LIHEAP since they supported the inclusion of the funds in the defense appropriation bill. It and other nondefense-related provisions, such as drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, were stripped out of the DOD bill by the Senate.

“These were complex negotiations with many factors to be considered,” Snowe said. “I am so pleased we were able to get this agreement from the leaders.”

The state also is acting to provide heating assistance. Legislative leaders have agreed to pass a $5 million state appropriation for fuel aid on Jan. 4, the first day of the session.

An effort is also under way to raise money through private charitable groups to help meet the need. Because of higher energy prices, state officials estimate the existing federal funds will buy 40 percent less heating oil than last year.