WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe continued her career-long fight to increase funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) today by leading her Senate colleagues in calling on the President to make additional funding for the program a priority in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget. In a letter, Snowe, Senator Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), and 38 senators from both sides of the aisle urged President Obama to restore LIHEAP to at least the Fiscal Year 2011 level of $4.7 billion. In September, Snowe and Reed secured language in the Fiscal Year 2013 continuing resolution to fund LIHEAP at the 2012 level of $3.47 billion nationally through March 27, 2013.  Without the language, the program could have been reduced to as little as $2.82 billion during the winter months. 

Senator Snowe said:

“I have fought tooth and nail for LIHEAP assistance since my very first days in the U.S. House in 1979, and increasing funding for this vital program is no less urgent now than it was three decades ago. LIHEAP has faced draconian funding cuts far too often, which impose unconscionable burdens on Maine’s most vulnerable as they are confronted with the impossible choice between heating their homes or paying for other necessities, like prescription drugs. I have personally heard the stories and witnessed the serious challenges that a Maine winter presents to the thousands of Maine households receiving this aid, and the simple truth is we must do more to help them avoid the dangerous cold during our harsh winter months.  I call on the President to do what is right and make LIHEAP a priority in the budget next year.”

Click here to read a copy of the letter.

Senator Snowe's Hisotry on LIHEAP
Over her career, Senator Snowe has been a champion for low-income Mainers who struggle to pay their heating bills during the winter.  In 1980, she testified in support of establishing the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and worked with then-Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil to ensure the program came to fruition.

With drastic price increases for home heating oil in 2006, Senator Snowe authored legislation to shift $1 billion in LIHEAP funding from Fiscal Year 2007 to Fiscal Year 2006 to help supplement the cost of skyrocketing heating bills for Mainers. The bill passed the Senate in March 2006. Additionally, she has led countless letters to her colleagues, committee and congressional leaders, department secretaries, and presidents to ensure LIHEAP is at the forefront of their agendas.

Throughout all of her work, Senator Snowe made her face-to-face interactions with Mainers a priority so she could learn about their hardships and better fight for their needs in Washington. Last winter, she travelled across the state visiting Maine’s Community Action Program (CAP) agencies in Bangor, Waterville, Lewiston, and Sanford to speak with CAP leaders and meet with Mainers receiving assistance. She listened firsthand as they shared their stories – bringing those messages back to Capitol Hill.

LIHEAP is the main federal program that helps low-income families and seniors on fixed-incomes with their energy bills, providing vital assistance during the cold winter months.  It is a unique seasonal program where if funding is not finalized before winter, millions of low income households run the risk of not receiving assistance during the coldest months. 

Last year Congress provided a total of $3.478 billion in LIHEAP funds for low-income households.  According to the National Energy Assistance Director’s Association (NEADA), LIHEAP provided vital energy assistance to 8.9 million households in 2011 – an increase of 54 percent since 2008. 

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