Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 14, 1993 TAG: 9312140038
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, will spend nearly $1.44 billion this winter to help poor families, particularly those that are elderly or disabled or support children, pay their utility bills.
Last winter, 5.2 million households received funds from the program.
Congressional aides and advocates, speaking on condition of anonymity, say the program's budget may be slashed by a third or more than half in President Clinton's 1995 budget to help pay for administration proposals such as expanding Head Start.
The budget for the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers LIHEAP, is still being drafted. Spokesmen for HHS and the Office of Management and Budget declined to discuss the LIHEAP spending.
The federal government distributes LIHEAP funds to the states based on a formula involving local energy costs and poverty rates.
States use the money to help poor families pay for fuel, avert a shutoff, reconnect their utilities or weatherize their homes.
Last winter, LIHEAP had a $1.35 billion budget. The average benefit was $215, according to the National Consumer Law Center, an advocacy organization for low-income families.
Created during the Carter administration in response to the energy crisis, lawmakers and advocates argue that the need for LIHEAP has not diminished, although oil prices have long since stabilized.
House Budget Committee Chairman Martin Olav Sabo, D-Minn., says more than 70 percent of households that benefited from LIHEAP last year had annual incomes of less than $8,000. Most are senior citizens and single-parent households.
by CNB