[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15865]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        INCREASE LIHEAP FUNDING

  (Mr. YARMUTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. YARMUTH. Madam Speaker, there's one thing on which everyone in 
this Chamber agrees, it's that we're in an energy crisis, and the 
American people are paying the price.
  So, as we consider a second stimulus package to provide immediate 
relief and spur long-term growth, I urge my colleagues to also offer 
assistance where we know people need it: immediately paying for energy.
  The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP, provides 
critical heating and cooling assistance to millions of hardworking, 
low-income Americans across this country, and now, in the middle of a 
hot summer and trying economic times, this assistance is more important 
than ever.
  In Kentucky, 300,000 people qualify for LIHEAP, but because we have 
yet to fully fund the program, only a third are receiving the help they 
need, leaving 192,000 Kentuckians underserved, forced to choose between 
food for their children and critical cooling and heating needed to get 
through a long summer and winter.
  Eligible families spend, on average, a fifth of their incomes on 
energy. I urge my colleagues to fully fund LIHEAP and provide 
desperately needed help to struggling American families.

                          ____________________