[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 44 (Thursday, March 9, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    IN SUPPORT OF FUNDING FOR LIHEAP

  (Mr. DOYLE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DOYLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of continued 
funding for LIHEAP, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. 
LIHEAP is a block grant that provides funding for programs that assist 
low-income households with heating during the winter months. On 
February 22, the House Appropriations Committee voted to eliminate 
funding for the entire program. Lack of funding for this program would 
effectively destroy the ability of 5.8 million American families to pay 
their energy bills. Cutting LIHEAP would effectively put people--
children, seniors, disabled, and the working poor alike--out in the 
cold. In my State, Pennsylvania, 466,000 households would be affected.
  At a time when the crux of all the rhetoric coming from the other 
side of the aisle is the need for input and control for those on the 
State and local level--why is it that LIHEAP, a successful block grant 
providing an outstanding example of a Federal-State partnership with 
the built-in flexibility that allows States to design programs to 
respond to the heating needs of their citizens being decimated? The 
irony of this situation is rich, Mr. Speaker, but irony will not keep 
you warm--at anytime--and especially not during a Pennsylvania winter. 
The constituents of western Pennsylvania did not send me to Washington 
to participate in ideological shell games that employ a bait and switch 
mentality. All of us were sent here to ultimately improve the quality 
of life for those we represent.
  I urge for continued funding for the proven successful Low-Income 
Home Energy Assistance Program.

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