DeLauro, Colleagues Fight for Additional Home Heating Assistance for Northeastern States

Washington, DC— Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3) and congressional colleagues from all of the Northeastern states sent a letter today to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius calling for the calling for the release of the $100 million of remaining Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds.

In January, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released $490 million of the $590 million of available LIHEAP contingency funds using a new formula focusing on states with high unemployment numbers and unusually cold winters. With Northeastern states experiencing fairly normal winter temperatures and unemployment rates similar to national levels, they consequently received a relatively small portion of the funds.

Congresswoman DeLauro said, "No family should have to make the impossible choices between needs like medicine and food or heating their homes. The economy is making everyday life difficult for millions of families across the country, but there is no reason for states with traditionally cold weather to be denied the funds needed to help our most vulnerable citizens. We have to make sure those who need help are getting it, and I urge Secretary Sebelius to authorize the release of these critical funds."

The text of the letter appears below.

February 16, 2010

The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius Secretary U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20201

Dear Secretary Sebelius, We write today as members of Congress concerned with the distribution used by your Department to allocate the $490 million in contingency funds released through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) on January 20, and to urge that you release the remaining $100 million in FY10 LIHEAP contingency funds to cold-weather states.

While we appreciate the degree to which your Department attempted to address the needs of states experiencing high unemployment and unseasonably cold winters, it should not come at the expense of consumers in cold-weather states who are still struggling mightily this winter to stay warm. Heating costs in cold-weather states consume more of low-income consumers' income and rely disproportionately on price-volatile energy sources like home heating oil. According to the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) Short-Term Energy outlook released last month, home heating oil is the only winter heating source projected to rise in cost this winter – by as much as 19 percent in the Midwest alone. The EIA projects that the average Northeastern fuel oil household will spend nearly $2,000 in heating costs this winter.

Simply put, our constituents live in states that experience some of the harshest, coldest winters in the United States. According the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) at the U.S. Department of Commerce, average temperatures in the Northeast and Upper Midwest were 15 to 25 degrees colder this past December than in the Southeastern U.S. For low-income consumers in our states, winters often force many families to confront stark choices between heating their homes and feeding their families.

For these reasons, we hope you will utilize the remaining LIHEAP contingency funds to assist cold-weather states in aiding their low-income residents this winter. We appreciate your understanding of an issue that is so important to our individual states.

Sincerely,