LIHEAP

Floor Speech

Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I am here today to talk about the importance of sustained funding and support for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, better known as LIHEAP. I know it is something my colleague, the Presiding Officer, cares very much about as well.

LIHEAP helps households pay home heating costs and targets funds for those families with the lowest incomes and the highest energy costs. In 2010, nearly 165,000 families in Minnesota used this critical lifeline.

As the Presiding Officer knows, our home State may be known as the land of ice hockey and ice fishing and other winter sports, but our tough winters can be downright dangerous to families struggling to pay their utility bills and trying to keep the heat on.

Even as Minnesota's economy has weathered the recession better than most, we have seen a great increase in need for assistance with heating bills. From 2008 to 2010, there was a 30-percent increase in families who needed energy assistance. Without sustained funding for LIHEAP at current levels, we risk pushing these 38,000 families out into the cold.

This October, I joined with Members from many cold weather States, as my colleague did, in a letter that urged the Department of Health and Human Services to release LIHEAP funds as quickly and at as high a level as possible. We must follow up on this action by fully funding LIHEAP.

On October 28, the Department of Health and Human Services released $1.7 billion for LIHEAP. This is a start, but we need another $3 billion to ensure we sustain level funding from last year. Depending on how and what the final appropriations are for fiscal year 2012, it is important to recognize we will need over $1 billion to fully fund LIHEAP.

I believe seniors should not have to choose between paying for medication and their heating bills; that families should not have to choose between putting food on the table or keeping their furnaces on at night, and children should always have a warm home to sleep in at night. LIHEAP is targeting those families who are most in need. In fact, the average household served by LIHEAP in Minnesota had an income of $16,000, and 85 percent of the homes served by LIHEAP included at least one senior, a person with a disability, or a child under the age of 18. These families are struggling. Now is not the time to pull the rug out from under their feet.

LIHEAP is supported by nonprofit organizations such as Community Action of Minneapolis, the Salvation Army, State and local governments, and utility companies. These organizations know the value this program has to ensure that families have the tools they need to stay safe during the coldest winter nights. They also see how it creates economic activity by maintaining demand for utilities when household budgets are under the greatest strain and may be forced to go without.

According to economists, LIHEAP is a smart investment. For every dollar in benefits paid, $1.13 is generated in economic activity. As a cosponsor of the LIHEAP Protection Act, introduced by Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, I want to commend my colleagues on their leadership on this issue, and I look forward to working with them to ensure this legislation is passed and that funding for the critical program is maintained.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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