[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 199 (Thursday, December 14, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S18587-S18588]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 LIHEAP

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the distinguished Presiding Officer and I 
both come from States where we know what winter weather is. I daresay 
the distinguished Presiding Officer has probably heard a weather report 
in his State--one of the most beautiful in this country--probably heard 
a weather report similar to one I heard in Vermont last weekend. In the 
news they said, ``By the way, we expect a dusting of snow tonight, 
accumulations of no more than 3 to 4 inches.'' And nobody thinks 
anything of it. If we have 10 inches of snow overnight, schools still 
open, people still go to work.
  I contrast that with the situation we face in the Washington area. 
How many times have we turned on the TV in the morning and see we have 
remote locations and you have all the people out there bundled up, and 
the poor camera person has the bright lights on, trying to find one 
snowflake coming down. They say, ``Oh, and the latest report is the 
snow appears to be gathering and we switch now to the head 
meteorologist,'' who, in a state of panic, is saying, ``And we may get 
accumulations of up to an inch.'' An inch? My 86-year-old mother goes 
out with a broom and sweeps anything up to 2 or 3 inches off the walk. 
Schools will open, but here, if they open at all, it is 5 hours late. 
``Two inches were spotted somewhere in the continental United States 
and it might be moving this way.''
  Last night I drove home around midnight and I saw cars spinning off 
the road for two reasons. One, they did not know how to drive; and 
second, notwithstanding the fact that everybody knew an ice storm was 
coming, apparently nobody thought to send out the sand trucks and sand 
the road. This morning, at about 5:45 or so, when I drove with my wife 
to work--she was going to the hospital, she is on the morning shift--
again, we saw cars spinning out all over the place. They come roaring 
down to an intersection, slamming on the brakes--of course they had 

[[Page S18588]]
not bothered to sand the intersections--and looked amazed and surprised 
that the law of physics applied. You have a heavy object, you have no 
traction: It does not stop. It has some aspect to do with the law of 
friction and physics, something I suggest maybe we may want to teach.
  We get into a situation around this area that the only effective snow 
or ice removal is a couple of days of warm weather. I once thought the 
reason we keep everything going in the little State of Vermont is we 
must have a lot more equipment and a lot more people. Apparently that 
is not so. Actually they have more down here. I think they are saving 
it, though. They do not want to use up this equipment. Maybe they are 
thinking someday another Ice Age will come and we will need it then.
  But in Vermont we do have cold weather. I remember a year or so ago 
they closed down the Government here because it was about 25 degrees.
  I was in Montpelier, VT, in the State capital that day and it was 15 
degrees below zero. I walked from my office to the capitol. Every place 
was open, everybody went to work. I constantly got stopped by people on 
the streets who said, ``We heard on the news they closed down 
Government offices and everything in Washington because it is 25 
degrees. They really mean 25 below, don't they?''
  I said, ``No, 25 degrees. That is 40 degrees warmer than it is here 
where we are all going to work.''
  But we do have that 25- to 30-degree below zero weather. I mention 
that, to be serious, because we need money in LIHEAP. In Vermont we 
have about 25,000 families eligible for LIHEAP, aid for those who need 
heating assistance. I think last year our families received slightly 
less than $400 a home. But because of the budget, in Vermont they can 
be promised only about $50 this year.
  Mr. President, 70 percent of those recipients earn $8,000 a year or 
less, 30 percent of them are AFDC homes with children. Mr. President, 
32 percent of them are working Vermonters who need help; 41 percent of 
the recipients are elderly or disabled. People are going to be dying 
from the cold. It does get cold back in my State. We have had many 
below-zero days already. We will have days where it will go down to 20 
or 30 below zero.
  Congress is no closer to passing a Labor-HHS bill with LIHEAP funding 
than they were back in September. If Congress feels that block grants 
are such a good idea for school lunches and Medicaid, at least show 
they are consistent and keep the LIHEAP block grant going. Food shelves 
are getting empty. Frost is on the windows day and night. People are 
down to the question of heating versus eating. If you are elderly or 
disabled, that is one heck of a question to have to ask.
  We need to pass a LIHEAP budget. It is a gaping new hole in the 
welfare net and it is hurting Americans, especially those who live in 
the frost belt. I hope we will pass it.
  Mr. President, I thank the Chair for its forbearance and I will be 
happy to join with the distinguished Presiding Officer in offering 
snowtime driving lessons to any of our colleagues who may wish them--
certainly to the media who report on four or five snowflakes as though 
it was the coming of a new Ice Age.

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