[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16575-16576]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 LIHEAP

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, with gas prices soaring, the effects are 
being felt all across my State of Ohio. In the last year and a half, I 
have held 110 roundtables, talking to people in 75 of Ohio's 88 
counties, listening to what they are telling me about gas prices and 
about other challenges: food prices, the cost of energy to heat their 
homes--all of those. School districts in Appalachia are contemplating 
going to 4-day school weeks just to cut down on the amount of gas the 
buses will use. The bicycle police academy in Columbus is being forced 
to turn applicants away, as community after community is looking to put 
police on bicycles in order to keep fuel costs down. Police and fire 
departments across Ohio are struggling to keep community services going 
while facing crippling gas prices. Our truckers, our farmers, and our 
businesses are struggling and are often forced to raise the prices of 
their goods and services.
  This price increase is devastating to our poorest populations, who, 
come winter, will be facing a double whammy: trying to pay for gasoline 
to get to work and for either natural gas or heating oil to heat their 
homes. We are deep into this energy crisis, and while Americans are 
currently most affected at the pump, we cannot forget that winter is 
around the corner. Fuel prices are still on the rise. We have witnessed 
a nearly 40 percent rise in heating oil already this year. That means 
Americans are going to need all the relief they can get this winter.
  When pocketbooks are drained to pay heating bills, families are 
forced too often to make very difficult decisions.

[[Page 16576]]

It is money families can use to put food on the table, pay for 
transportation, buy winter coats or other necessities for their 
children. That is why we have LIHEAP, which we just voted on and which, 
on basically a party-line vote, Republicans oppose. The LIHEAP program 
is geared toward preventing families from facing this heat-or-eat 
dilemma. But despite its success, current funding levels do not meet 
its demands. That is why LIHEAP is so crucial. It would assist the 
elderly, assist moderately low-income families, and other low-income 
individuals who already experience financial strain as their wages 
remain stagnant but they have higher gas prices to get to work, higher 
food prices, and now, when winter comes, higher prices to heat their 
homes. The lack of funds to invest in solutions with upfront costs and 
long-term savings keeps too many low-income individuals in poverty.
  An increase in LIHEAP funding would also increase the Weatherization 
Assistance Program, which prevents families from wasting energy while 
also providing good-paying jobs.
  In Marietta, a few weeks ago, I met a crew of four young men who were 
learning a skill and assisting the elderly. They were paid $12, $13 an 
hour, fixing up homes, weatherizing them, cutting energy bills for the 
elderly, for low-income elderly residents of Washington County. They 
were saving on energy for all of us as energy prices keep going up, and 
they were learning this trade and making a difference for all of us.
  Given current energy strains and current financial strains Americans 
have already experienced, the time for Congress to act on LIHEAP is 
now, before Americans get left out in the cold.

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