Congress Seeking Heating Help Money

Wednesday, September 25, 2002
By Jim Geraghty
STATES NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON --The combination of high heating oil prices and a forecast for a chilly winter has prompted many northeastern lawmakers, including Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, to urge the Bush administration to release more funding for a home heating assistance program.

A coalition of 39 senators, including Massachusetts Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry, and 74 members of the House signed a letter to the president yesterday, urging him to release $200 million from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program emergency fund before Oct. 1.

"Significant increases in unemployment over the past year warrant a nationwide release," the Senate lawmakers wrote. "It is highly likely that the number of people in economic distress will increase during this coming winter."

If the funds are unused by the end of the fiscal year, they expire and are returned to the Treasury.

For McGovern, a conflict with the White House over LIHEAP is a familiar battle.

"If you want to hear the longer version of my speech, play the tape from last year's press conference, and the year before that," McGovern said. "It is out of a sense of frustration that we gather again to support this program. The president's budget is inadequate."

Last year, Congress appropriated $1.7 billion for the program, and added an extra $300 million to the Department of Health and Human Services to help low-income families deal with expensive cooling bills in the summer. Of that funding, $100 million was released to 39 states and the District of Columbia.

Massachusetts' amount of LIHEAP aid was the seventh highest in the nation last year, and the state regularly ranks in the top 10, McGovern said.

At a Capitol Hill press conference yesterday, the Campaign for Home Energy Assistance, a coalition of advocates for the poor and energy utilities, released a study on public attitudes about federally funded energy assistance for low-income families. The survey found that 78 percent of Americans believe it is more difficult now than it was five years ago for low-income families to pay for their energy bills.

McGovern said the study "gives us ammunition" in the effort to secure more LIHEAP funding.

"All you hear about in Washington these days is 'homeland security,' " McGovern said. "Well, if this isn't homeland security, I don't know what is. There is an incredible need out there. I've seen it in my own community. Without it, you have elderly people being forced to choose between heating and food or prescription drugs."