AUGUSTA, Maine — Winter may have only just started, but Maine’s U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King are already looking ahead to next year’s cold season, and are once again pushing for a boost in federal funding for home heating assistance for low-income Maine families.
Collins, a Republican, is teaming up with U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, to urge President Barack Obama to include at least $4.7 billion in Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funding in his budget proposal for the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1, 2015, according to a joint news release from Maine’s senators.
Collins and Reed outlined their request in a letter to Obama signed by 43 senators, including King, an independent.
The omnibus spending bill passed by Congress this week provides $3.39 billion in LIHEAP funding through Sept. 30, 2015. That funding level can serve just 20 percent of the eligible population, Collins and King said, and those who receive LIHEAP assistance have seen their average grant reduced by nearly $100 since 2010, from $520 in fiscal year 2010 to $424 in 2014.
“The LIHEAP program is one of our most effective tools to help senior citizens and less-fortunate households keep warm during the winter,” wrote Collins. “Energy costs remain high and LIHEAP funding is a vital lifeline that helps prevent people from having to choose between heating their home, paying their bills or going without food or medicine.”
More than 44,000 Maine households receive heating assistance through LIHEAP, according to a 2013 estimate from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This year, more than $35 million in LIHEAP funds will be distributed to help low-income Mainers keep warm.
“Maine’s bitterly cold winters present serious challenges for our state’s most vulnerable families, who often end up having to confront the choice of whether to pay the ever-increasing heating bill or provide for everyday necessities,” King wrote. “I urge the administration to include these critical funds, which will help tens of thousands of Mainers to stay warm while still being able to make ends meet.”
Collins and Reed, along with King, successfully lobbied for a $169 million increase to LIHEAP funds last year.
Obama will present his 2016 budget proposal to Congress this spring.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
