Cantwell Calls for Immediate Release of Available Home Heating Assistance Funds for Seniors, Working Poor
WASHINGTON, DC – Wednesday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and a bipartisan coalition of senators called on President Bush to help families and seniors in need by releasing the remaining $101.5 million in available Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) contingency funds.
“With this winter’s through-the-roof heating costs, seniors and the working poor need this help desperately,” said Cantwell, a member of the Senate Energy Committee. “The funding is there, and I’m calling on the president to make it available to America’s families and seniors. We need to bring families in need in from the cold.”
In a letter to the president, Cantwell joined Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jack Reed (D-RI) and others to call on the president to release the contingency funds. The $101.5 million was included in an appropriations bill passed last year, but can only be released by the Bush Administration. Releasing the funds would allow thousands of additional families to receive the help they need.
Without additional funding, only a limited number of the 300,000 eligible households in Washington state will receive assistance with this winter’s record high home heating costs. In Spokane, for example, Washington’s second largest city, 34,000 households qualify for energy assistance, but only about 7,000 households receive help. Applications for LIHEAP assistance are up nationwide, and 12 states have already run out of funds to help families with this winter’s bills.
Cantwell has fought for months to secure additional funds for LIHEAP, a federal block grant program that provides states with annual funding to operate home energy assistance programs for low-income households. In addition to helping to pay energy bills for low-income families and the elderly, LIHEAP helps to fund energy crisis intervention programs, low-cost residential weatherization, and other energy-related home repairs. To view the letter, click here
###
Next Article Previous Article
