Maxwell Frost: “I regret that this omnibus appropriations bill is wholly short on funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance…”

“I regret that this omnibus appropriations bill is wholly short on funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance program, otherwise known as LIHEAP. This omnibus bill provides a total funding for LIHEAP of $2.2 billion. That is approximately $800 million of the level needed to ensure that this program has the same purchasing power as when it was created in 1982. According to the Center For Budget and Policy Priorities, across this country Americans will see a 24 percent increase in the price of home heating. Heating oil is going up 32 percent, propane 22.3 percent, and natural gas 12.1 percent. Our most vulnerable Americans depend on this program to protect them in the harsh winter months. Regrettably, the LIHEAP level of funding in this omnibus appropriations bill does not give them that protection. Millions of them will be left out in the cold. I tried, without success, to amend the conference report in the Rules Committee to increase LIHEAP funding by approximately $800 million.”