SHAHEEN SEEKS EXTENSION OF HEATING AID FOR NEW HAMPSHIRE FAMILIES

November 22, 2010

(Washington, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen today joined 41 of her Senate colleagues in sending a bipartisan letter urging the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to prevent deep cuts to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).  The program, which last winter provided heating assistance to roughly 47,000 New Hampshire homes, is in danger of being funded at approximately $2 billion less than it was last year. 

"At a time when the economy is still fragile, heating oil costs have increased and winter is nearly upon us, it's imperative that we not reduce LIHEAP assistance to New Hampshire families," said Shaheen.  "Cutting the program would deny crucial heating aid to thousands of households in the Granite State."

The letter requests that the program be funded at last year's levels while Congress works to finish negotiations on 2011 appropriations bills.  On November 16, Senator Shaheen sent a similar letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius that also urged against cutting the program.

Over half of New Hampshire families rely on home heating oil, and the price of heating oil is up 30 cents over this time last year.  The Energy Information Administration projects that the Northeast will spend almost 15 percent more for home heating oil this winter than last.  In addition, a growing number of families are relying on LIHEAP to get them through the economic downturn.

This year, if funding is cut, New Hampshire will be able to provide heating assistance to half as many homes as received assistance last year. The New Hampshire Office of Energy and Planning predicts that LIHEAP will be fully subscribed by December 1 when the program opens. 

The full text of the letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee is below.

November 22, 2010

The Honorable Daniel Inouye
Chairman
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Thad Cochran
Ranking Member
Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Tom Harkin
Chairman
Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education, and Related Agencies
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Inouye, Ranking Member Cochran, and Chairman Harkin:

We write to thank you for your consistent support of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and to request that you maintain level funding for the program.

As you know, on October 28th, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released block grant assistance to states under the Continuing Resolution (CR), which funds the federal government at Fiscal Year 2010 levels through December 3rd. Although the CR funded LIHEAP at last year's level of $5.1 billion, due to the differences in discretionary spending levels reported in the House and Senate, HHS provided grants to states based upon the lower reported value. The results have been devastating for our states during a period when we are entering the coldest months of the year and facing increased heating bills, in particular for homes heated with heating oil, which face a 12 percent increase in costs, as forecasted by the Energy Information Administration. Consequently, unless Congress maintains fiscal year 2010 funding levels for this critical program, the average LIHEAP block grant to states will be cut by 40 percent.

This is a challenging time for low-income Americans. With the unemployment rate at 9.6% nationwide and 42.4 million people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) support in August, another record and a 50% increase over 2008, maintaining full funding for LIHEAP is essential. The U.S. Census recently reported that 43.6 million people were counted as poor in the United States, or one in seven Americans, the largest number in the measure's 50-year recorded history.

Given the unique structure of the program, unless we finalize funding for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2011 now, the millions of Americans who need help paying their energy bills this winter could see no additional assistance. As such, under any appropriations bill that Congress considers prior to the expiration of the CR, we would request that you extend LIHEAP's funding through September 30th, 2011, at last year's funding levels. This would provide stability to the program and allow HHS to allocate LIHEAP funds in a timely manner to provide vital heating assistance this winter.

Again, we want to thank you for your commitment to helping low-income families cope during this tough economic climate, and look forward to working together in a fiscally responsible manner to address this serious issue.

Sincerely,

U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Jack Reed (D-RI), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Susan Collins (R-ME), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Christopher Bond (R-MO), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Herbert Kohl (D-WI), Scott Brown (R-MA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Chris Dodd (D-CT), Bernard Sanders (I-VT), Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Russ Feingold (D-WI), John Kerry (D-MA), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Carl Levin (D-MI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Roland Burris (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Robert Casey (D-PA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Al Franken (D-MN), Robert Bennet (R-UT), Deborah Stabenow (D-MI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mark Begich (D-AK), John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), James Webb (D-VA), Jon Tester (D-MT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Thomas Udall (D-NM)

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