Spare LIHEAP

The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, PA)
Thursday, August 8, 2002

With the economy a swoon, taxation an anathema and homeland security a priority unforeseen a year ago, one after another federal program is being called to the chopping block in federal budget deliberations.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which provides home heating (and cooling) relief to economically distressed Americans, should not be one of these.

LIHEAP is one federal public assistance program that consistently has shown its merit. For 25 years it has been quietly and efficiently going about the business of making sure poor Americans do not unnecessarily suffer because they are unable to pay their utility bills.

It traditionally has received broad bipartisan support. In the 2000 presidential election campaign, candidate George W. Bush singled out LIHEAP for praise.

But something over the past two years must have changed his mind. The president has sent Congress a proposal that would cut LIHEAP funding from its current level of $1.7 billion to $1.4 billion. The White House cited milder temperatures over the last winter, lower fuel costs and the needs of homeland security.

Under the leadership of Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the Senate has managed to hold the line on the LIHEAP appropriation and allow $300 million for emergency funding. It is in the House, however, that the Bush administration's long knives are expected to come out in full force.

If the administration's version prevails, the effect of this large-scale cutback would be particularly acute in Pennsylvania. Not only is Pennsylvania the second largest recipient of LIHEAP funding in the nation — 369,633 households received $90.9 million in assistance in 200-2002 — but in this state the program stands alone. There is no state program to complement its mission — or to fill the gap from a cutback.

LIHEAP is not a federal giveaway or perpetual entitlement. It's not a cash benefit that recipients can dispose of as they wish, nor is it just another top-heavy bureaucracy that siphons off the greater part of its appropriation for salaries and administration. It is a flexible program directed at the elderly, the working poor and the destitute poor whose primary mission is to prevent the interruption of energy service to their homes. Who could object to that?

Apparently, a coalition of House conservatives finds this goal unworthy, for in 2000 its foes — including Rep. John E. Porter, chairman of the subcommittee on human services appropriations — managed to eliminate all funding for LIHEAP. Fortunately, Specter and Harkin successfully guided a Senate version and hammered out the $1.7 billion compromise in conference.

Proponents are hoping the two senators will prevail again.

Right-thinking representatives of both parties, liberals and conservatives, should recognize the value of LIHEAP and restore it to full funding — with the $300 million emergency supplement.

The support of the Pennsylvania delegation is especially critical.

We are a large cold-weather state with a significant population of the elderly and poor, and as Harry S. Geller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Utility Law project points out, reports of Pennsylvanians dying in their homes from exposure to heat or cold are not apocryphal; it happens every year.

LIHEAP is the one line of defense against such tragedies, and Congress should take steps to make sure the money is restored and service is uninterrupted. The old and poor should not freeze in the dark.