[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 198 (Wednesday, December 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S18556]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            LIMITED PROVISIONS IN THE CONTINUING RESOLUTION

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, one of the most serious defects of the 
current stopgap funding for the Federal Government is its treatment of 
LIHEAP, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, that helps needy 
families pay their winter fuel bills. Under that program, States 
receive most of their full-year LIHEAP allocation in the 2 months of 
October and November so that they can prepare for the winter, set 
benefit levels, and deal with emergencies.
  It is bad enough that the current stopgap bill cuts these needed 
funds by 25 percent from last year--25 percent from last year. Even 
worse, it pays out those funds on a basis that is prorated on a full 
year, so that the States are receiving far less than the usual share in 
October and November. By this time last year, Massachusetts had 
received $32 million of its $54 million allocation. This year, however, 
Massachusetts has only been allowed to draw down $9.5 million.
  In fact, all States had received $800 million of last year's $1.3 
billion LIHEAP appropriation by December of last year. Under the 
stopgap bill, there is a 71-percent cut, although the bill is only 
supposed to impose a 25 percent cut at most.
  This chart demonstrates very clearly what the problem is. First of 
all, I think everyone across this country understands the extraordinary 
drops in the temperature in the most recent days. This is playing havoc 
in many families in Massachusetts, up in Boston, the North Shore, all 
over Massachusetts and the Berkshires and otherwise. By December 15 of 
1994, some $800 million had been distributed. By December 15, 1995, 
only $230 million under the continuing resolution.
  Mr. President, this has to be addressed in the continuing resolution. 
Unless it is, there will be hundreds of Americans whose very health and 
risk of freezing will be very, very real. This was a nonintended result 
of the fact of these continuing resolutions, and it is an emergency. It 
cries out for action.
  We hope that the House of Representatives will take action. 
Otherwise, I know, under the leadership of Senator Wellstone and 
others, an amendment will be offered to try and reach this emergency 
situation.
  Massachusetts energy agencies have said that they will respond only 
to cases where a utility terminates services, or where homes have less 
than one-eighth of a tank of fuel oil. The State has cut annual LIHEAP 
benefits from $430 to $150 per household to ensure that they have 
enough funds for emergencies throughout the winter.
  In Gloucester, the agencies have been faced with a choice of spending 
nonauthorized LIHEAP funds or letting some families freeze to death.
  In Salem, the local government has dipped into its own scarce funds 
to provide needed assistance.
  In Springfield, Patricia Nelligan, the fuel assistance director for 
the New England Farm Workers' Council, said that unless more LIHEAP 
funds are made available soon, their program will have to shut down by 
the end of next week.
  It may not officially be winter yet, but winter has already arrived 
with a vengeance in many parts of the country. For the 6 million 
recipients of LIHEAP assistance across the Nation, it will be a 
desperate Christmas unless more aid is available.
  Some 95 percent of the households receiving LIHEAP assistance have 
annual incomes below $18,000. They spend an extremely burdensome 18 
percent of their income on energy, compared to the average middle-class 
family, which spends only 4 percent.
  Researchers at Boston City Hospital have documented the heat or eat 
effect, where higher utility bills during the coldest months force low-
income families to spend less money on food. The result is increased 
malnutrition among children.
  The study also found almost twice as many low-weight and 
undernourished children were admitted to Boston City Hospital's 
emergency room immediately following the coldest month of the winter. 
No family should have to choose between heating and eating.
  But it is the poor elderly that will be at the greatest risk if more 
LIHEAP funds are not made available, because they are the most 
vulnerable to hypothermia. In fact, older Americans accounted for more 
than half of all hypothermia deaths in 1991.
  In addition, the elderly are much more likely to live in homes built 
before 1940 which are less energy efficient and put them at greater 
risk.
  Low-income elderly who have trouble paying their fuel bills are often 
driven to rely on room heaters, fireplaces, ovens, and wood-burning 
stoves to save money. Between 1986 and 1990, such heating sources were 
the second leading cause of fire deaths among the elderly. In fact, 
elderly citizens were up to 12 times more likely to die in heating-
related fires than adults under 65.
  Over 50 Senators have signed a letter urging the budget negotiators 
to allow States to draw down LIHEAP funds at the up-front rate if a 
further stop-gap funding bill is enacted. I urge the Senate to support 
this provision, so that families can receive the urgent assistance they 
need.
  Christmas is approaching, and in many parts of the country, 
temperatures have dropped to levels close to those at the North Pole. 
But Santa Claus does not release LIHEAP funds to the States--Congress 
does, and we must act quickly to avoid tragedy.

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