[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 73 (Monday, April 27, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2045-S2046]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



               Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program

  Mr. WELCH. Madam President, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance 
Program, known as LIHEAP, is a lifesaving program with a long history 
of bipartisan support from its very first days. LIHEAP was started in 
the administration of Ronald Reagan, and the program helps people in 
need heat their homes in the winter and cool their homes in the summer.
  You know, it is a beautiful day here in DC, but across the country, 
in many places, it is still very cold and still very hot. LIHEAP was 
established, as I mentioned, in 1981, by President Ronald Reagan, and 
it provides funding to States to help low-income households with their 
energy costs. The program originally just covered heating, but in 1984, 
it was expanded to cooling, as it should be, because people in the 
Presiding Officer's State, people in Arizona, Nevada, and many other 
States are threatened by extreme heat, just as those in cold-weather 
States, like Vermont, are threatened by extreme cold.
  This program has been reauthorized many times since its inception, 
and I am so pleased that it has always been bipartisan, because the 
folks we represent, whether it is in cold- or warm-weather States, know 
that people need the security that they are not going to freeze to 
death or that they are not going to die of heatstroke. And that 
happens; that is real.
  And the Americans that rely on LIHEAP to heat their homes in the 
winter and cool their homes in the summer are very scared. They need 
help, and their neighbors and friends need help and assurance that this 
program will continue.
  President Trump, in his budget, has proposed to zero out the budget 
for LIHEAP--literally, to end what Ronald Reagan began.
  And when we are talking about those who do get some help with their 
heating bills, we are talking about folks who are barely able to pay 
their bills at the end of the month and often can't. And, again, this 
is in the Presiding Officer's State and in my State.
  For a family of four, the eligibility limit is $61,000. For a single 
mother and a child, it is $40,000. For a single person just trying to 
get by, it is $29,000.
  So Vermonters who are struggling to pay their bills themselves but 
are thinking about neighbors across the country are concerned about 
this. I had a constituent from Essex, VT, urging me to protect LIHEAP 
because ``I know it gets awfully cold in North Dakota and . . . 
Minnesota.''
  People in all our States understand how their neighbors and, in many 
cases, they themselves need this. This is not a luxury. It can be a 
matter of life and death for hundreds of thousands of Americans, from 
Montpelier to Fairbanks, AK.
  You know, this year, Burlington, VT, had its coldest weather in 17 
years, with more than 20 straight days of below freezing temperatures. 
In Fairbanks, Alaskans endured more than 89 days below zero, many days 
below 30 to 40 degrees below zero.
  And LIHEAP also provides cooling assistance to families in warm 
weather climates, like Phoenix, AZ, where more than 100 days a year saw 
temperatures of 100 degrees.
  You know, I have gone on some fuel deliveries with the fuel dealers 
who have a program to provide assistance, and what I know is, 
Vermonters, when they see that fuel truck show up, are terrified 
because that is a big, big monthly bill. And without the assistance 
that we have been providing to people around the country to help them 
with this, they literally are facing freezing or heatstroke.
  That is also at a time when our heating bills are going up, and our 
cooling bills. In December, household energy bills were up by more than 
13 percent. The war in Iran has absolutely exacerbated that problem. 
Gas prices are up more than 30 percent, over $4 a gallon. They are 
approaching $5 a gallon. More and more commentators believe that the 
Strait of Hormuz will be closed for much longer, indefinitely. We don't 
know when. And that is also going to continue the pressure on the price 
of home heating fuel.
  You know, I do have a real contention with the administration when 
President Trump, on the one hand, is zeroing out the home heating 
assistance program, and cooling assistance as well, but on the other 
hand, is pursuing policies that are driving up energy costs, as we saw 
and are seeing with the war in Iran, which has closed the Strait of 
Hormuz and is crippling the economy but is leading directly to higher 
home heating fuel costs.
  And that is in contrast with some of the comments that I can only 
characterize as cruel and totally ``out of it'' by some of his 
advisers. Kevin Hassett made a very telling remark to CNBC. Here is 
what he said:

       While it's very frustrating to go to the pump and see what 
     the price of gasoline looks like . . . the benefit for oil 
     producers is significant.

  Seriously? What about your constituents and mine, who are paying the 
price that is of benefit to the oil producers and then find out that 
the home heating and cooling assistance help that they had last year is 
going to be zeroed out this year. That is absolutely outrageous.
  The only people benefitting from this energy crisis are people in Big 
Oil. They are making an estimated $30 million windfall every hour.
  The price goes up. It is painful for consumers and for businesses and 
for farmers, but it is a windfall for the oil companies.
  So shouldn't this Congress stand up and provide some help to maintain 
some sense of security for the people we represent?
  But by proposing a 100-percent cut to Federal LIHEAP funding, 
President Trump has made it clear what his priority is. It is 
accelerating the profits for the oil industry at the expense of people 
who have absolutely no control over what the price is at the pump, what 
the price is when that home heating gas or oil is being delivered to 
their homes.
  All of us are here and believing that we are fighting for the 
families that we represent in our States, and I am fighting for Vermont 
families. Last week, Senator Reed and I filed an amendment to the 
Republican budget resolution that would protect LIHEAP from this 
zeroing out in the Trump budget.

[[Page S2046]]

  The amendment was not adopted. But I will keep fighting, and I hope 
many of my colleagues will join me to protect LIHEAP so that there can 
be some reassurance to the people who are going to be hammered and 
threatened by the zeroing out of this program.
  You know, in the past, Congress has, on a bipartisan basis, rejected 
the administration's attempts to zero out the LIHEAP budget and 
illegally fire the staff that oversees the disbursement of LIHEAP 
funding to the States. That is why we included report language in the 
fiscal year 2026 bill to require that funds that are allocated to 
States be distributed on a timely basis. And that is true in Alabama, 
and it is true in Vermont.
  And I urge my colleagues to join those of us who want to make certain 
this fuel assistance is available to families, regardless of whom they 
voted for, regardless of policy orientation, and regardless of 
politics.
  This is not a red State or blue State issue. Americans everywhere are 
paying for the reckless economic policies in this illegal war, and this 
war is imposing substantial and daily and punitive costs on struggling 
Americans, struggling farmers, and struggling businesses.
  But all of us are in need of maintaining this program, and we can if 
we come together to do it.
  You know, Texas receives about $181 million in LIHEAP funding, and it 
helps 65,000 households; in Nebraska, $32 million, 53,000 households.
  So by attempting to zero out LIHEAP funding, the Trump administration 
has said it loud and clear. It is plain before our eyes. They are 
willing to throw Americans out in the cold or in the heat and are quite 
content with a $30 million-an-hour windfall for the oil companies.
  My hope is that we in Congress, whatever our differences are, can 
work together to save and preserve the LIHEAP program, which is a 
lifeline for so many people you represent and I represent.
  I yield the floor.
  (Mr. LANKFORD assumed the Chair.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Britt). The Senator from Kansas.