Senator Feingold Pushes For More Energy Assistance For Low-Income Families

By admin - Posted on January 27th, 2008

January 24, 2008 -- Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is calling on the Senate leadership to fully fund the Low-Income Housing and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for the current year. In a letter, Feingold requested additional fiscal year 2008 funds to provide a total of $5.1 billion—previous appropriations have only provided about 50 percent (or $2.6 billion) of the authorized funds. Feingold also recently urged that full funding be included in the President’s budget for next year, which will be released soon.

LIHEAP is a federally funded program that helps low income families, disabled individuals, and senior citizens living on fixed incomes. The funding would help those in need cope with high energy bills by improving energy efficiency in their homes or providing them with emergency grants during waves of extremely cold or hot weather. While LIHEAP will serve an estimated five million households this winter, the assistance will only reach about 16 percent of the 30 million households that are eligible.

“While LIHEAP continues to go under-funded, many low-income people in Wisconsin are paying the price," Feingold said. "With home heating costs steadily increasing each year, we need to ensure that families are safe and warm in the often harsh Wisconsin winters."

Feingold has been a long-time champion for fully funding LIHEAP. Since 2005, Feingold has supported efforts that have led to $328 million in LIHEAP funding coming to Wisconsin. Currently for fiscal year 2008, Wisconsin will receive $17,916,977 of emergency contingency funding from LIHEAP, in addition to $69.7 million in regular funding. As the Energy Information Administration estimates electricity prices are expected to rise, the need for low-income home energy assistance is great.

“No family should be forced to choose between heating their home and putting food on the table for their children,” Feingold said. “No senior citizen should be forced to choose between buying life-saving prescriptions and paying utility bills. LIHEAP makes a real difference for households that face these difficult decisions.”

Source: Senator Russ Feingold

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