Action: Dear Colleague Letter

You are here: Home / Advocacy / SAVE LIHEAP / Action: Dear Colleague Letter
Action Alert: Contact your House Representatives and urge them to sign the LIHEAP Dear Colleague Letter

Reps. Peter King (NY), Peter Welch (VT), Lou Barletta (PA) and Jim McGovern (MA) are circulating a letter to the Appropriations Committee supporting no less than $4.7 billion for LIHEAP in the FY18 Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill. The text of the FY18 letter is below. No deadline has been set, but it is likely to fall a day or two before the April 6 deadline for members to submit their priorities to the Committee. Staff contacts are Isaac.loeb@mail.house.gov (Welch), Tim.Ursprung@mail.house.gov (King), Mike.Cusher@mail.house.gov (McGovern), or Emily.Ackerman@mail.house.gov (Barletta).

This letter comes just days after the President proposed eliminating LIHEAP in his skinny budget, so a good result is critical this year.

What You Can Do

Contact your House Representatives and encourage them to sign the Dear Colleague Letter. This is a unique opportunity as elected officials to express themselves and show support for LIHEAP in a public and influential manner. We need their signatures.

Last year, 161 U.S. Representatives signed a similar letter. This is a good place to advocate with special diligence, as well as freshman members.

Final Signers of FY2017 letter (161): Adams, Ashford, Barletta, Bass, Beatty, Benishek, Beyer, Blumenauer, Bonamici, Boustany, Boyle, Brooks, Brown (FL), Brownley, Bustos, Butterfield, Capuano, Cardenas, Carson, Cartwright, Chu, Cicilline, Clark (MA), Clarke (NY), Clay, Cleaver, Coffman, Cohen, Collins, Connolly, Conyers, Costa, Costello, Courtney, Crowley, Cummings, Davis [Danny] (IL), DeFazio, DeGette, Delaney, DeSaulnier, Deutch, Dingell, Donovan, Doyle, Duckworth, Edwards, Ellison, Engel, Esty, Fattah, Fitzpatrick, Foster, Frankel, Fudge, Gallego, Gibson, Green (Al) [TX], Green [Gene] (TX), Grijalva, Guinta, Gutierrez, Hanna, Hastings, Heck (WA), Higgins, Himes, Huffman, Jackson Lee, Jeffries, Johnson (TX), Katko, Keating, Kelly (IL), Kennedy, Kildee, Kind, King (NY), Kinzinger, Kirkpatrick, Kuster, Langevin, Larsen, Larson, Lee, Levin, Lewis, Lieu, Lipinski, LoBiondo, Loebsack, Lowenthal, Lujan, Lujan Grisham, Lynch, Maloney [Carolyn], Maloney [Sean Patrick], Marino, McCollum, McDermott, McGovern, Meeks, Meng, Miller (MI), Moore, Moulton, Murphy, Nadler, Napolitano, Neal, Norcross, Norton, Pallone, Pascrell, Payne, Perlmutter, Peterson, Pierluisi, Pingree, Pocan, Poliquin, Polis, Quigley, Rangel, Rice (NY), Richmond, Ruiz, Rupperberger, Rush, Sablan, Sanchez [Linda], Sarbanes, Schakowsky, Schiff, Scott (GA), Scott (VA), Sewell, Sinema, Sires, Slaughter, Smith (WA), Stefanik, Takai, Takano, Thompson (MS), Thompson (PA), Tonko, Torres, Tsongas, Van Hollen, Vargas, Veasey, Vela, Velasquez, Walz, Wasserman Schultz, Waters, Watson Coleman, Welch, Wilson (FL), Yarmuth

The full text of the FY 18 Dear Colleague letter

The Honorable Tom Cole
Chairman
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
2358-A Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Rosa DeLauro
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
2358-A Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Tom Cole and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro,

We are writing to request that you prioritize the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in your Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 appropriations bill by including no less than $4.7 billion for this program that provides critical support to our most vulnerable citizens.

LIHEAP helps low-income households and seniors with their energy bills, providing vital assistance during both the cold winter and hot summer months. LIHEAP households are among the most vulnerable in the country. According to the National Energy Assistance Director’s Association (NEADA), nearly 90 percent of LIHEAP recipients have at least one household member who is a child, elderly, or disabled. For these households, LIHEAP funding has been a lifeline during challenging economic times. Access to affordable home energy is not a luxury – it is a matter of health and safety.

We understand the ongoing discretionary budget challenges. However, we are deeply concerned that funding for LIHEAP has declined more than 30 percent in recent years. Moreover, the number of households eligible for assistance continues to exceed available funding. According to NEADA, the total number of households receiving LIHEAP assistance has declined by 15.5 percent between FY 2010 and FY 2015, from 8.1 million to 6.8 million. About 1.3 million poor households have lost access to critical LIHEAP assistance and struggle to pay for the basic necessity of home energy in addition to other essentials like food and medicine.

Funding has declined by almost $1.7 billion since FY 2010, yet energy costs have remained high, reducing the purchasing power of LIHEAP assistance. Recipients have seen their average LIHEAP grant reduced by about $107 since 2010, from $520 in FY 2010 to $413 in FY 2015. The average LIHEAP grant is estimated to cover less than half of the average home heating costs for a household this winter, meaning that many low-income families and seniors will have fewer resources available to meet other basic needs.

As you finalize your FY 2018 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, we ask that you take into account the great need for LIHEAP. We urge you to reprioritize this program and restore funding to this program to a level no less than $4.7 billion.

Thank you for your attention to and consideration of this important request.

Sincerely,

[name]

Congressional Lookup Tool