[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 75 (Saturday, May 26, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S5798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROCKEFELLER:
  S. 981. A bill to provide emergency assistance for families receiving 
assistance under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act and low-
income working families; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, we all know the cost of gasoline has 
been increasing very dramatically and the people of my State, a very 
rural State, have to travel very long distances. There is little public 
transportation in rural counties, and as a result they have to use 
their cars and have to, therefore, buy a lot of gas.
  Today I am introducing legislation to give temporary help to those 
who need it most, particularly low-income families, workers, seniors, 
and, frankly, students who have to drive long distances each day to get 
to their work, their school, and to critical health care.
  In West Virginia prices of gas have gone up, as they have everywhere. 
In the North and South they have gone up by a great deal. People suffer 
because of that. I know high prices affect everyone when it comes to 
gas, but they do hit lower income people in the most painful way. When 
you are already struggling to pay the cost of housing and the cost of 
education or whatever it might be, the cost of gas aggregated over a 
period of time becomes a very painful item. As I indicated, if you are 
in a rural area, your problem is much worse because there is not public 
transportation. This is a very crucial fact. It means you have to use 
your automobile. It means you have to buy the gas to put in the 
automobile.
  I support the development of long-term energy policies and hope we 
will do that in a wise way. But for those who pay their living expenses 
day to day, that will not come soon enough. Therefore, my bill is a 
simple one. It is a temporary approach to what I believe is already, in 
fact, something of an emergency.
  The bill is modeled on the successful Low-Income Home Energy 
Assistance Program, LIHEAP, which helps working families and seniors 
cope with home heating costs. The proposal which I call LIGAP--not out 
of my poetic sense but simply because it stands for Low-Income Gasoline 
Assistance Program--would give grants to States for an emergency 
assistance program for people who must drive 30 miles a day or an 
average of 150 miles a week for work, for education related to work, or 
scheduled routine health care.
  This new program will have similar income eligibility guidelines as 
the LIHEAP program. Therefore, it will not be difficult to administer. 
It is triggered when a State's average gasoline price hits the 
unmanageable current level. It is also triggered off when gas prices 
decline. Every eligible person or family will get a monthly stipend of 
$25 to $75 to help cover the high cost of gasoline.
  This legislation encourages States to use their block grant funding 
to help welfare recipients pay for transportation costs, necessary for 
people getting off welfare to get to work. Some States, including West 
Virginia, are already using welfare reform moneys as part of their 
welfare-to-work initiatives to help with transportation costs. I think 
that is a very important thing for States to do. I am proud of my 
State's initiative, and I am proud of their approach to welfare reform.
  There obviously are not any magic bullets in bringing some sanity 
back to gasoline pricing, but this bill is designed to offer at least 
much-needed relief to West Virginians and other Americans who simply 
cannot make ends meet while we are in the throes of high gasoline 
costs. I think it is a sensible bill, and I hope at the appropriate 
time it will get favorable consideration.
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