Lawmakers press for urgent release of low-income heating aid

Bipartisan lawmakers and state governors are mounting a pressure campaign on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), urging the agency to speed up the release of federal heating aid as elevated fuel prices are set to impact many low-income households this winter. 

The big picture: Global energy disruptions, including the war in Iran, have driven crude oil prices to around $100 a barrel, pushing home heating oil prices to historic highs. 

What’s happening: A bipartisan coalition of more than 100 House members in late September sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., demanding that Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds be distributed to states no later than Nov. 1.

• “With a history of repeated funding delays by HHS to states, we are especially concerned for households facing high energy prices this winter who rely on LIHEAP,” the letter states. 
• The House members’ request covers fiscal 2027, which began Oct. 1; however, Congress has yet to pass a full-year budget.

Catch up quick: LIHEAP assists roughly 6.7 million households a year with utility bills, weatherization projects, and HVAC repairs and replacements via block grants that flow through states to local agencies, which then pay participating contractors. 

• In fiscal 2025, the average household heating benefit was $467, according to federal data. 

State of play: Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Monday declared a “state of energy emergency,” expanding local heating assistance and urging Congress to appropriate $3 billion in emergency LIHEAP funding, which would bring the program’s total support to $7 billion. 

• In Maine, where heating oil recently hit a record $6.02 per gallon, Gov. Janet Mills last week called on Congress for supplemental LIHEAP funding, though she didn’t indicate how much.
• Meanwhile, some lawmakers have introduced the American Homes First Act to redirect $1 billion from President Trump’s Board of Peace fund to LIHEAP, and other lawmakers have co-sponsored the Heating and Cooling Relief Act to modernize the program and expand eligibility to households earning up to 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

Between the lines: The Trump administration’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal, published in April, called for eliminating LIHEAP — the administration’s sixth such attempt — arguing that state utility shutoff protections make the federal program unnecessary.

• Advocates and state directors counter that shutoff moratoriums only delay utility debt — which has reached roughly $25 billion — and offer no protection to households that rely on home heating oil.
• Lawmakers have also raised concerns about LIHEAP’s capacity to operate, following HHS’s April 2025 decision to lay off most of the program’s staff, as Homepros reported.

By the numbers: U.S. households are projected to spend an average of $1,030 to heat their homes this winter, an 8.7 percent year-over-year increase, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (NEADA).

What we’re watching: Along with Gov. Healey, NEADA is urging Congress to boost total LIHEAP funding from $4 billion to $7 billion as it finalizes the fiscal 2027 budget.