Editorial
Writers Unite in Support of LIHEAP
July 6, 1998
Across the country, editorial writers are speaking out on behalf
of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Some
highlights include:
HOUSE MUST ACT FOR WINTER WARMTH
"Recently in Washington, a House subcommittee voted to eliminate
funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. LIHEAP
helps the needy, which in Pennsylvania most often means the elderly,
pay their heating bills. …The program still is needed. About
two-thirds of the 5 million households that receive heating or cooling
assistance under LIHEAP have incomes of less than $8,000 a year. Without
LIHEAP, those households would have to spend up to 30 percent of their
meager incomes on heating and cooling bills.
"The LIHEAP funding could be restored by a vote of the House
Appropriations Committee, of which Rep. Joseph M. McDade is the ranking
Republican member. He and his colleagues should restore the funding
as a matter of public health."
Scranton (PA) Times-Tribune
July 3, 1998
PROPOSED CUTS HURT THE POOREST
"A Republican-controlled House subcommittee have come up with
a plan to fund increases in health and research programs by slashing
$2.6 billion from numerous initiatives aimed at helping the disadvantaged.
"That’s the wrong place to find extra funds. ...
"The full Appropriations Committee will vote on the proposed
cuts in mid-July. We’re lucky we can count on (Rep. David) Obey
to do the right thing – oppose cuts to programs aimed at giving
families and children (what) they need to become productive members
of our society."
Ashland (WI) Daily Press
June 27, 1998
NEWS STORY
"(According to) Lupe Maldonado, an outreach worker at the Community
Action Agency in Silver City, ‘People depend on (the program)
to keep warm and stay in their homes…’"
Silver City Daily Press
July 3, 1998
POOR CUTS. HEAT? SUMMER JOBS? THE GOP MUST BE KIDDING.
"As part of this march toward November, House Republicans are
reviving their jihad against programs that help the poor. Two programs
once again on their hit list are financial assistance to pay heating
bills and summer jobs for youth. Killing these two, as a subcommittee
voted to do this week, would be a false economy of nearly $2 billion
a year.
"Most of the 4.4 million households helped by the $1.1 billion
in heating aid earn less than $8,000 a year. These folks are foundering
in America’s happy-go-lucky economy. It would be callous to end
a program that helps them make ends meet."
The Philadelphia Inquirer
June 26, 1998
GOP PLAYS POLITICS; THE POOR PAY
"Republican leaders insist they were merely making hard choices
in a tight budget. So why is it that when Republicans face hard budget
choices, the first place they turn to find savings are programs for
our poorest citizens?…
"Though charities may pick up some of the slack, eliminating
the program would surely mean that many would go without heat. Is
that what Republicans really want?…
"(The plan) is also drawing criticism from within the Republican
ranks.
"’This is unacceptable. This is absolutely crazy,’
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., told the Associated Press.
"To their credit, other moderate Republicans have served notice
they are concerned about the cuts and unwilling to go along."
St. Petersburg (FL) Times
June 27, 1998
FUNDING NEEDED
"It’s difficult to imagine why lawmakers would eliminate
this important part of the social safety net. … In a time of
economic prosperity it seems inappropriate the dump a program which
has such immediate and direct payback to those in need."
Sioux City Journal
June 28, 1998
TOUGH CHOICE: EAT OR HEAT?
"The Salvation Army, which is the nation’s largest provider
of privately funded utility assistance programs, calls LIHEAP a "valued
partner in these efforts." Said a spokesman: ‘Its (LIHEAP’s)
contribution represents a dollar total that far exceeds both our current
energy donations and what we can realistically expect to receive in
the foreseeable future.’
"What a shame those subcommittee members who want to kill the
program cannot be exiled to Aroostok County for the coming winter,
and forced to choose between food and fuel. They just might return
to their comfortable homes in Georgetown and Capitol Hill with a better
understanding of poverty."
Brunswick, Maine, Times Record
July 7, 1998
MEAN REPUBLICANS RETURN
"It’s hard at any time to fathom the thinking behind a plan
to eliminate home heating oil assistance for poor people, but it’s
especially mind-boggling when there is a budget surplus and when all
indicators point to a continued bullish American economy.
"The GOP action has such a Scrooge-and-Tiny Tim feeling that
is almost seems like cruel joke. But the conservatives made clear
they are not kidding. The subcommittee cemented its mean-spiritedness
by also eliminating a time-tested program providing jobs for low-income
young people.
"‘I regret we don’t have more money to throw around
at some of these problems, but I think that’s the real world,’
said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La.
"That’s not the real world compassionate Americans should
want to have anything to do with, and, to their credit, a number of
moderate Republicans have already denounced the scurrilous cuts. If
the conservatives had any institutional memory, they would realize
their slash-and-burn style of budget writing is not as popular as
they would have constituents believe."
San Francisco Chronicle
June 25, 1998
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