[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 194 (Thursday, December 7, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S18181-S18182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   LOW-INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE

  Mr. WELLSTONE. I thank the Chair. I thank my colleagues.
  Mr. President, I rise to express my deep concern about the current 
state of funding for the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program [LIHEAP]. 
In the State of Minnesota last year there were about 110,000 
households--over 300,000 men, women and children--who receive energy 
assistance. They received an average energy assistance benefit of about 
$360 per heating season.
  That was last year. This year, given the huge cuts in LIHEAP funding 
already enacted, that grant is expected to be about $200, even though 
for these households during the heating season, the overall cost of 
their heating bill is somewhere between $1,800 and $2,000.
  Last year, we funded this program at a little over $1.3 billion. We 
had a rescissions package which contained a cut of $319 million. On the 
Senate side, the appropriators proposed to fund this program at $900 
million, and on the House side, it has been zeroed out.
  In this bloodless debate that we too often have about the budget, I 
think sometimes we are completely disconnected from people's lives. 
That's why I would like to talk about what is going on in Minnesota 
right now, and what is going on in other cold-weather States. I speak 
about this with some sense of urgency. Last year, Minnesota received 
about $50 million in heating assistance. This year, we have received so 
far, after the last continuing resolution, about $9 million. Usually by 
this time, we have received about $20-$25 million.
  The energy assistance program, I say to my colleagues who are not 
from cold-weather States, is really not a year-long program. It is 
effectively a 6-month program. You need to allocate the heating money 
now during the cold-weather months. It is truly an example of a program 
where you cannot do it over a 1-year period of time. You need to get 
the assistance to people now when they need it.
  What we have going on right now with the way we have been funding 
this program that we are forcing people to freeze on the installment 
plan. That has to change. I hope there will be a change in the third 
continuing resolution which we'll likely have before this body next 
week.
  Let me put my colleagues on notice: This will not be the last time I 
am going to speak about the Energy Assistance Program here on the 
floor. I intend to raise the alarm until something gets done on it.
  It may be--and people may have a hard time understanding this--it may 
be that in Washington, DC, when it is 30 or 40 or 50 degrees, in my 
State of Minnesota, it can be 10 degrees below zero, and in some parts 
of the State, those are exactly the kinds of temperature with which we 
have been faced.
  I want to give a couple of examples, just a few examples, of what 
this actually means to people who rely on LIHEAP benefits.
  Nancy Watson is 55 years old. She is disabled. She lives in Clear 
Lake, MN. Her income is from SSI and medical assistance. It is $529 a 
month. She received her grant of $81 this year for energy assistance, 
and she does not know what she is going to do for the rest of the year. 


[[Page S 18182]]

  Mr. President, in the State of Minnesota, there are people who have 
been cut off already from utilities. There are people who do not have 
propane or fuel in their tanks. There are people who do not have any 
heat at all, and who are having to struggle to patch together help from 
friends, churches, the Salvation Army--anywhere they can get it.
  There are elderly people who have closed off all but one room of 
their homes. That is all the heating they can afford. There are people 
who have the thermostat turned down to 50 degrees. What are we going to 
do about that in the U.S. Congress?
  Mr. President, Clara Mager is a 73-year-old resident of a town on 
Minnesota's Iron Range. She receives $675 per month in Social Security. 
She lives alone and raised six children on her own. She has just 
received her grant of $222. She owed her fuel provider, Inter-City Oil, 
$177, and on Monday had only 60 gallons left in the fuel tanks. She 
wonders what she is going to do at the end of December or in January or 
in February or in March.
  In Blue Earth County, we have talked with a woman who is 90 years 
old. I will make a long story short. She is very worried about how 
she's going to heat her home, and she has now reached the conclusion, 
after having been self-reliant and self-sufficient her whole life, that 
she may have to move into a nursing home.
  Mr. President, you can criticize the Low-Income Energy Assistance 
Program. There are imperfections in all our programs. But let me remind 
my colleagues that nationally, two-thirds of the energy households have 
an income of less than $8,000 a year. More than half have incomes below 
$6,000 a year. I tell my colleagues today, and I am going to speak 
about this over the next week: we have to do something now in this 
continuing resolution, we have to get adequate funding allocated to 
people who need it. The total cost of the Energy Assistance Program 
does not equal the cost of one B-2 bomber, and if we do not do 
anything, I say to my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans alike, I 
guarantee you that sooner or later there will be people in our country 
in the cold-weather States who will freeze to death. Then we will do 
something.
  We should not wait. We should not wait. That would be wrong. We can 
do better. People expect more of us.
  Nobody in 1994 voted for an elimination of an energy assistance 
program for the most vulnerable citizens in this country to make sure, 
whether they are elderly or whether they are children or whether people 
with disabilities or whether they are a working poor family, that they 
at least have this survival supplement. We cannot keep doing it this 
way. In my State of Minnesota, by now, we have just over $9 million 
that we are getting out to people. It is 10 degrees. It is 8 degrees. 
In northern Minnesota, it will reach zero or below tonight. There is a 
windchill below zero. People are cold, and we have to get this 
assistance out to those who need it.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the text of a 
draft letter that is circulating among Senators, and that will soon be 
sent to Chairman Hatfield, from the Northeast-Midwest Coalition. I was 
part of the effort, and urged that such a letter be done. Senator 
Jeffords from Vermont is co-chair of this coalition, and we have worked 
with him on the effort. It makes the case clearly for addressing the 
LIHEAP problem in the next CR.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                 Washington, DC, December 5, 1995.
     Hon. Mark Hatfield,
     Appropriations Committee,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Hatfield: We would like to call your 
     attention to a serious problem with the interim funding for 
     the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). We 
     believe that if we are to continue funding programs under the 
     FY96 Labor/HHS Appropriations bill through a Continuing 
     Resolution (CR), states must be allowed to draw down LIHEAP 
     funds at a higher rate which takes into account their 
     historical spending practices and which is sufficient to 
     ensure the program's viability. Temperatures have dropped 
     below freezing and there is snow on the ground in many parts 
     of the country, but the language in both CRs that limits 
     state draw downs to a proportional annual rate does not 
     provide states sufficient funds to operate programs and meet 
     the heating needs of their low income families.
       In past years, states have drawn down a majority of their 
     LIHEAP funds during the fall. This allows states to purchase 
     fuel at lower rates, maintain continuity of service, avoid 
     shut offs, and plan for the upcoming winter. Furthermore, 
     nearly ninety percent of LIHEAP funds are used for heating 
     assistance during the coldest months. The CR language 
     requires that LIHEAP funds be spent out over a twelve month 
     period. While this may leave funds for heating assistance in 
     June, many low income families may not be able to heat their 
     homes this winter.
       We believe it is critical to safeguard this program which 
     protects the elderly, the disabled, the working poor, and 
     children. When it gets cold, these vulnerable Americans 
     should not be forced to choose between heating and eating. 
     Continuing delays in funding and limits on the payout rate 
     will hamper states' ability to help the 5.6 million LIHEAP 
     households survive the winter. We ask your assistance in 
     ensuring that the bulk of LIHEAP funds can be spent during 
     the cold weather months at a rate sufficient to meet the 
     needs of low income families this winter. Thank you.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Jim Jeffords.

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I will be speaking about this in much 
more detail over the next week or so. We have to do something about 
this, I say to my colleagues.
  On the last continuing resolution, finally I was able to get, and 
Senator Jeffords and others can talk about what's happening in their 
States, $2 million more for my State. That is it. But that is a 
pittance. We have long waiting lists of people who need the assistance, 
and adequate funds are not available. That's why people are having to 
go cold.
  We have to get the funding out now, and we have to figure out a way 
in this continuing resolution to make sure that we do so; otherwise, 
Mr. President, there is no question that in the United States of 
America, this winter some people will likely freeze to death.
  For God's sake, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, liberals, 
conservatives, and whatever other label you choose to call yourself or 
apply to yourself, let us try to do better, and let us try to make sure 
in this continuing resolution that we are able to get some of this 
funding out. We should not be freezing people on the installment plan. 
It is unconscionable. It is not right. We should not be doing this. We 
have to take some action.
  I yield the floor.

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