Maine lawmakers seek release of more LIHEAP aid

AUGUSTA – With temperatures starting out colder and fuel prices higher this year, many more Mainers have been seeking help to heat their homes.

And because Congress has yet to act on a budget for heating aid, state lawmakers in both parties say Maine may have to provide some of that help.

“We are hearing the same story from CAP agencies across the state,” said Suzanne McCormick of the Portland-based People’s Regional Opportunity Program that serves Cumberland County. “Last year at this time 2,300 people or families had contacted us about heating assistance. This year we’ve already received 4,200 requests.”

With the increasing demand for help, Democratic leaders in the Legislature called a State House news conference Friday to urge Congress and President Bush to approve additional aid. Earlier this month the president vetoed a measure that contained $2.4 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance program.

The federal government has the power to solve this problem and it should, said Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport.

“If they don’t, we will have to figure out what we will do in a very difficult budget cycle,” she said, referring to a looming $95 million state revenue shortfall.

But Senate GOP leader Carol Weston, R-Montville, was surprised at the Democrats’ event in the Hall of Flags. She said efforts to resolve the LIHEAP funding issue at both the national and state level have been bipartisan.

“I will tell you we are not going to hold it against them,” she said. Weston said Republicans would support any efforts to find funds to help Mainers with their heating bills. “But it is unfortunate that [Democrats] chose to do this as a partisan issue.”

Weston said a likely source for any state aid would be the state reserve fund that has been set aside for emergencies. She said even with additional federal aid, the state may have to provide some help if the weather stays cold and the demand grows.

The state’s Budget Stabilization Fund, what used to be called the Rainy Day Fund, is at about $117 million.

House Speaker Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, agreed that the reserve fund would be a likely source of any cash, given the $95 million revenue shortfall lawmakers are projecting they will have to address when they return to session next month. He agreed the issue is bipartisan and said Republican lawmakers should have been invited to participate.

“I can’t tell you, quite frankly, whether they were invited to come,” he said. “As far as I am concerned, I wish everybody had been invited to come because I think it is a bipartisan issue.”

He said the state is facing an emergency situation with an 18 percent decrease in LIHEAP funding while there has been an increase of more than 25 percent in the cost of home heating oil.

“This is something all Mainers care about,” he said. “This could be a life or death issue for many Mainers.”

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, who was in the U.S. House when the LIHEAP program was first created, said the entire congressional delegation from Maine is working together to get additional funding for the program, and she is frustrated they have not been able to achieve that goal.

“We are working full tilt to get the higher level of funding in the omnibus budget bill,” the Republican said Friday. “And we are also working to get additional supplemental funding.”

Snowe believes lawmakers will approve at least the $2.4 billion funding level that was in the DHHS budget bill the president vetoed last month. She said there also is an effort underway to get as much as a billion dollars in additional funding for the program in the budget legislation.

“There is a group of us that will be fighting for this and won’t give up on it,” she said.

But, she said, Congress probably won’t pass the omnibus budget bill until the last day before adjourning for the holidays.

In addition, Snowe said a coalition of lawmakers is urging President Bush to release the last $20 million of emergency funds left over from last year’s appropriation. She said that would mean about $1 million for Maine.

Last year the LIHEAP program in Maine, which is administered by the State Housing Authority, served 46,363 households, with an average benefit of $588. With an estimated 48,000 seeking aid this year, the average benefit is projected to be $579.

The most recent statewide average price for home heating oil is $3.17 a gallon, as compiled by the State Planning Office. Two years ago home heating oil averaged $2.38 a gallon. Most Mainers use oil to heat their homes, but the program can be used to pay for other energy sources.

Last year Maine got a LIHEAP grant of $25.5 million and an emergency supplemental grant of $6.9 million. Officials at the Maine State Housing Authority said they have based their estimates on getting the same level of funding as last year, since a federal budget has yet to be approved for the current budget year

So far, about 23,000 Maine households have received some help from the program. Another 12,000 applications are being processed by the CAP agencies with more expected. A little over $13 million in assistance payments have been made so far this heating season.