As HHS Releases More Heating Aid Funds,
Lawmakers Look to Next Year's Total

Jim Geraghty
States News Service
March 7, 2003

The Bush administration released $151.26 million in funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) program this week, as most northeastern lawmakers began pushing for an increase in the budget for next year's heating aid.

Ten of the 12 New England senators sent a letter to Senate budget leaders requesting that LIHEAP's income support function receive $3 billion in the coming fiscal year's budget. That total would be a $1.2 billion increase from last year's funding and allow states to provide assistance to at least 1.5 million more families. The senators said that LIHEAP assistance served 4.4 million households last year, only 15 percent of the 30 million households who are eligible for assistance.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy greeted this week's announcement as a hard-fought victory.

"The release of this funding for LIHEAP will help ensure that the neediest residents of Massachusetts get the money that Congress restored to fully fund the program this year," the Bay State Democrat said in a statement. "It is unfortunate that it takes so much work from Congress to get this important assistance out to people suffering through one of the coldest winters in recent memory. We will continue to fight for more funding, and call on the administration to fully fund LIHEAP in next year's budget."

This week's release distributed funds that the administration had not expected to be included in last year's final budget.

"We had already done the second quarter release when Congress finished its appropriations work, and the funding level was a little bit higher than expected," said Clarence Carter, director of the Department of Health and Human Service's Office of Community Service. "This was a release of what was extra, to go with the second quarter release."

"We are giving states full access to the entire amount that Congress has provided for this fiscal year, and leaving it up to states to decide how much of their grant they wish to receive at this point in time," HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said when announcing this week's release.
"This gives each state the maximum flexibility and support to use the funds that have been appropriated for this year in the manner they feel will serve their low-income families the best."
As of this week's distribution, 33 states will have received 90 percent or more of their fiscal year 2003 LIHEAP funding, a HHS Department spokesman said.

Massachusetts will receive a little over $3.3 million bringing its fiscal 2003 total to $78.6 million. Maine is getting $2.1 million in the latest batch, bringing its total for the year to $27.4 million. New York received the most funds, with more than $32.2 million in the latest distribution for $260 million for the year.

State officials hope that they have seen the worst of the winter's combination of plunging temperatures and soaring heating bills.

"This year has been a roller coaster ride for us from the beginning," said Beth Bresnahan, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development, which administers the state's LIHEAP program. She said that state officials knew there was a dispute in Washington between the Bush administration, which wanted $1.4 billion in LIHEAP funding, and many northeastern lawmakers in Congress, who wanted $1.7 billion.

"We took a gamble and based our totals right from the beginning on the $1.7 billion," Bresnahan said. "By doing that, we were able to serve our customers from the beginning and help them fill up their oil tanks while prices were still low and before the price spike."

She said the department hopes to serve 133,000 households around the state with the maximum $700 for the heating season, which would be slightly above the 131,600 households served last year.

"That may not seem like a lot to some people considering the spike in prices, but we're hoping to hoping to serve as many households as well as we can," Bresnahan said, adding that state families' participation is running "about as scheduled" this year.

When the state agency got its federal funding grant for the winter season last month, it was only able to increase benefit levels for customers who used oil, propane and kerosene to heat their homes, Bresnahan said, because gas and electric customers can generally "let their bills build up." With the latest allocation, the department will be able to increase its benefit levels for gas and electric customers as well, she said.