Maine congress members Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden have joined 114 house members in requesting more funding for home heating assistance.
In a letter sent Thursday to the House and Senate leadership, 116 house members requested an additional $1.6 billion in funds for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which received over $4.5 billion in funding for the 2023 fiscal year. $3.7 billion in block grant funds have been released from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) for the 2024 fiscal year so far.
The house members write that LIHEAP is a “historically underfunded and oversubscribed program” that is only able to serve 20% of the households that qualify for assistance.
Following the release of a multilingual eligibility checking tool from the DHHS, congress members say that funding will run out faster unless additional funds are provided as more people apply for aid this year.
