House committee moves to boost funding for low-income HVAC program

A U.S. House committee on June 11 approved a bill that would increase funding for a federal program that helps low- and fixed-income families cover HVAC-related expenses.

Catch up quick: The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) assists over six million households a year with utility bills, weatherization projects, and HVAC repairs and replacements via grants that flow through states to local agencies, which then pay participating contractors. 

• The Trump administration proposed eliminating the program several times over the past year; however, in February 2026, Congress passed — and the president signed into law — a bill funding LIHEAP at $4.045 billion through Sept. 30.

What’s happening: Last week’s measure, approved by the House Appropriations Committee, would preserve LIHEAP for the upcoming fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1, and increase its budget by $10 million to $4.055 billion. 

The big picture: The approval underscores the continued back-and-forth over LIHEAP, which draws bipartisan support in Congress but remains a target of the Trump administration. 

• Despite the president signing the February bill funding LIHEAP through Sept. 30, the administration’s fiscal-2027 budget request, released in April, proposed eliminating the program again — its sixth attempt. 

What they’re saying: “LIHEAP is unnecessary because States have policies preventing utility disconnection for low-income households, effectively making LIHEAP a passthrough benefiting utility companies, particularly in the Northeast,” the administration wrote in April. 

• “The program rewards States such as New York and California, two of the top recipients for LIHEAP funding, which have implemented anti-energy and anti-consumer policies that drive up home energy prices,” it added.  

The other side: “The assertion that LIHEAP is unnecessary due to state shut-off protections ignores how the program operates,” the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA) said in response. “LIHEAP serves households nationwide.”

• “Seasonal protections only delay disconnections — they do not eliminate debt. Once moratoriums end, families must still pay accumulated balances,” it added. 
• “While the proposal highlights specific states, more than half of LIHEAP funding supports states that voted for President Trump in 2024.”

Looking ahead: The bill needs to pass the full House, while the Senate writes and passes its own version, before a final reconciled bill reaches the president’s desk.