Cuts for emergency utilities assistance coming?

[Hannah Bell]

Even as the number of households applying for emergency assistance with their utility bills is expected to reach record levels, the federal government has dramatically reduced funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). If the US Senate fails to appropriate additional money for LIHEAP when it reconvenes later this month, the program will see its financing reduced to $3.3 billion in fiscal year 2011 (FY 2011), a $1.8 billion decline over the previous year.

While the US House of Representatives requested $5.1 billion for LIHEAP in its proposed FY 2011 budget, which began in October 2010, the Senate has thus far only approved $3.3 billion. Unless the Senate takes action to match the amount approved by the House of Representatives before the start of the next congressional session in January, LIHEAP’s funding will remain at the $3.3 billion level.

The consequences of this will be devastating. Some experts are projecting that 10 million households will seek help during the 2010-2011 winter heating season this year, up from 8.8 million last year and 7.7 million the year before. In a September 21 letter to Congress, the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association (NEADA) noted, for example, that “Colorado is projecting the number of applicants to increase by at least 15 percent,” while Maryland, which has an early enrollment, had already seen a 5 percent jump in the number of households seeking help.

The 35 percent reduction in LIHEAP financing will force the state agencies that administer the funds to slash the size of the subsidies they offer, turn qualified applicants away, or both. “It will put a lot of families in dire straits,” George Coling, director of the National Fuel Funds Network, told the World Socialist Web Site.

In Emmet County, Iowa, for example, the Upper Des Moines Opportunity, Inc. (UDMO), which gives out LIHEAP aid in the area, is cutting the average size of its grants in half—from $300 to $600. Describing the situation facing his organization, UDMO supervisor Jim Jenson told the Estherville Daily News, “We’re getting less and less from the federal and state governments and there’s more need.”

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/nov2010/lihe-n10.shtml

[Skittles]

1. thank you Hanna Bell for your persistent posting of things that matter

yes INDEED

[madrchsod]

2. this is could be a very bad winter if it gets really cold...

it`s into the 60`s and 70`s here in northern illinois. i`m waiting to see just how bad the flip is going to be.

[madrchsod]

3. oh ya..millions will loose their unemployment in the next few months