[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 197 (Tuesday, December 12, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NATIONAL FUEL FUNDS DAY

                                 ______


                       HON. JOSEPH P. KENNEDY II

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 12, 1995

  Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, the safety net for 
millions of low-income and elderly families striving to keep warm this 
winter is wearing awfully thin. Budget cuts and funding delays have 
left the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program [LIHEAP] struggling 
to get off the ground as the coldest winter weather approaches. This 
year as never before, needy households will be turning to private fuel 
funds to safely warm their homes and make it through the winter.
  Today is National Fuel Funds Day. Sponsored by the National Fuel 
Funds Network, it is a time to remember the more than 285 private fuel 
funds around the country and to show our support for their work to warm 
the lives of our fellow citizens. Americans are a generous people. In 
fact, Americans donated more than $72 million in support of this 
Nation's private fuel funds in 1993 alone. That figure pales, however, 
in comparison with the more than $1 billion in fuel assistance provided 
annually by the Federal Government and the magnitude of the cuts 
currently being proposed for this vital program. The House has 
recommended eliminating energy assistance from the 1996 budget while 
the Senate is contemplating a more than 30 percent reduction in 
funding.
  Let us remember, then, our private fuel funds on National Fuel Funds 
Day and support them as they fight against the tide to shore up the 
safety net for millions of needy American men, women, and children.

                          ____________________