[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 196 (Thursday, November 20, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8261-S8262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

  Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, I am here to speak about the urgent need 
for the Trump administration to release $4 billion in LIHEAP funding. 
LIHEAP, as you know, is the low-income plan. It is absolutely critical 
that that money be distributed to the States so the States can 
distribute it to the citizens who need it. We are in the cold weather 
season and getting money out after the cold weather season does not 
help keep people warm.
  LIHEAP funding enjoys broad support, and that is because, in the 
Presiding Officer's State and in mine, folks in the winter who are on 
the margins financially, literally, can't get by unless they have 
access to this funding.
  So here we are, the heating season is upon us, and the LIHEAP funding 
is stuck and not being distributed.
  This is an absolute responsibility of the Trump administration, and 
there is no--no--excuse for withholding the funding. It just means that 
people who are cold are going to be cold and terrified, and they have 
no confidence about their ability to stay warm.
  It is getting cold in Vermont. You know, most families who use LIHEAP 
funding, they make about 150 percent of the poverty level, that is 
about $23,000 a year. You know, the cost of home heating fuel is 
between 3 and 4 bucks a gallon, right now. That help is essential.
  In Vermont, around 26,000 people rely on LIHEAP to afford heat. And 
by the way, for folks in the warm weather

[[Page S8262]]

parts of our country, it helps on air-conditioning, which is vital. And 
as the Presiding Officer knows, the number of people who are dying of 
heat exposure has been increasing, alarmingly. So this is the call to 
the Trump administration: Do your job.
  Now, Secretary Kennedy has a legal responsibility to disburse the 
current LIHEAP funding, and it is illegal for him to withhold those 
funds as well as really pretty cruel.
  The reality is that this summer we in Congress came together, on a 
bipartisan basis, to increase and to pass the $4 billion in funding for 
the program. And, again, I emphasize, it is not a red State, blue State 
deal. It is not a Republican, Democratic deal. It is a person who is in 
a home, doesn't have money, and is cold. That is what it is about.
  So I am calling on President Trump and Secretary Kennedy to stop 
stalling and to act with alacrity and release the LIHEAP funding for 
the benefit of the people in the State of Vermont and in every State in 
this country who depend on it.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.

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