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Senator Klobuchar Backs Bipartisan Agreement to Raise LIHEAP funding

House spending package has $2.57 billion for heating aid program

December 17, 2007

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar announced today that the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) would receive $2.57 billion in fiscal 2008 under an Omnibus Appropriations agreement reached this week by House Democrats after Klobuchar and 49 other Senators signed a letter to Congressional appropriators requesting extra funds for the program. That sum is nearly $1 billion higher than the funding proposed by the President and is designed to address the rapidly rising costs of homing heating fuels this winter.

“With a cold winter already setting in for Minnesota homeowners, I’m proud that we have an agreement to secure the additional funding that LIHEAP needs,” Klobuchar said Monday. Klobuchar worked with fellow members of the Minnesota delegation to secure the higher LIHEAP funding.

Federal funding for LIHEAP has increased by 10 percent during the last four years, but the number of households receiving LIHEAP aid has increased by 26 percent. Natural gas and home heating oil prices are expected to rise by 30 percent to 50 percent this year compared to 2006.

The Omnibus Appropriations bill was expected to pass the House Monday night and head to the Senate for a vote by the end of this week.

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