As the Winter Looms

New York Times
November 29, 2005

Members of Congress left Washington before Thanksgiving and don't plan to return until mid-December. They took off without approving any money to help poor Americans pay their heating bills this winter. They failed to pass the bill that included $2 billion in home heating subsidies that they had agreed to allocate as long ago as last spring. They also failed to come up with the additional $3 billion that is needed to cover the big price jumps in various fuels since Hurricane Katrina.

On four separate occasions, a majority of senators voted in favor of more money for heating subsidies, but under the budget rules, passage required a supermajority, which could not be mustered. The House managed to ignore the issue almost entirely, except to "add" an extra billion dollars for heating subsidies to one bill by cutting a billion from other programs that help the poor. The intended recipients of federal heating subsidies include millions of low-income Americans who are old and disabled, as well as poor families with children. It is widely known that people who cannot afford heat often make trade-offs that risk their health or safety: deciding between heating or eating, between heat or medicine, between turning on the heat or resorting to oven flames or dangerous kerosene heaters.

President Bush punted on his opportunity to emphasize the need for more heating subsidies when he neglected to ask for the money in his latest hurricane-related emergency spending request. Congressional leaders have also failed to stress the issue, even as they have vowed to move heaven and earth to pass more tax cuts for investors - at a cost that far exceeds the cost of adequate heating aid.

There are at least two chances for Congress to act when it returns. The lawmakers can include $5 billion for subsidies in the coming spending bill for the Health and Human Services Department. Or they can add the money to the president's emergency spending request, even though he didn't ask for it.