Bipartisan group of senators urge Trump to support low-income energy programs
Several U.S. senators are urging President Donald Trump to support programs in the 2020 budget designed to help low-income households pay their energy bill.
The programs are called the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP).
“Extreme weather across the United States, including record-breaking cold temperatures in several states recently brought by the polar vortex, have once again highlighted the importance of affordable access to home energy as a matter of health and safety for more than six million low-income households, many of which include children, veterans, seniors, and individuals with disabilities. LIHEAP and WAP have long enjoyed bipartisan support, and we hope that you will prioritize funding for both programs in your fiscal year 2020 budget proposal,” Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jack Reed (D-RI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Edward Markey (D-MA) wrote in a letter to Trump.
Both LIHEAP and WAP help low-income households pay their energy bills during the cold winter and hot summer months. Last year, LIHEAP provided nearly $155 million in assistance to Ohio.
The Senators pointed out that more than 71 percent of LIHEAP recipients have at least one child under the age of six, a senior, or an individual with a disability.
“This program helps to ensure that eligible recipients do not have to choose between paying their energy bills and affording other necessities like food and medicine. This is especially important during the peak winter heating and summer cooling seasons, when energy bills can comprise more than 30 percent of a low-income household’s monthly income. Unfortunately, the number of households eligible for LIHEAP assistance continues to exceed the program’s capacity,” they wrote.
The senators added that WAP is increasing the energy efficiency of people’s homes and reducing residential energy bills.
“A study by Oak Ridge National Laboratory found that weatherization saves eligible single-family homes on average $283 in annual energy cost savings, which benefits not only the household but also boosts the local economy. And in cold weather states, weatherization has reduced heating bills by 30 percent on average,” they wrote.
