Advocates push for release of low-income HVAC funds

Although the 43-day government shutdown has ended, funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps about six million U.S. households annually pay for heating and cooling bills and weatherization projects, remains delayed.

What’s happening: States typically receive LIHEAP allocations in early November. However, it takes the federal government at least four weeks to distribute awards, putting recipients at risk of not receiving funds until December or January.

• Nearly 100 Democratic lawmakers on Nov. 14 sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., imploring him to immediately release the program’s funds. 

Why it matters: LIHEAP funds are passed through states to local agencies, which then pay contractors to help homeowners with weatherization projects and other HVAC repairs. 

What they’re saying: “With the winter months approaching… families may soon be faced with the impossible choice between keeping their homes at a safe temperature and putting food on the table or affording their medications,” the lawmakers wrote. 

• “Ensuring the immediate release of LIHEAP funds is therefore not only a matter of compassion, but one of public health, safety, and economic stability,” they added.

Yes, but: The Department wrote on social media that it’s expediting internal procedures to release the funds “as soon as possible,” adding that they would be “available now if Sen. Schumer hadn’t led the Democrats in a 43-day shutdown with reckless disregard for American families.” 

The big picture: Despite the shutdown, the future of the program remains in jeopardy, as the Trump administration has proposed eliminating it and in April laid off most of its staff. LIHEAP, however, has received bipartisan support in Congress.