Olympia Snowe: “I rise today for one very simple reason, the days are relentlessly marching toward winter . . . the clock is ticking as…”

“I rise today for one very simple reason, the days are relentlessly marching toward winter . . . the clock is ticking as the thermometer edges ever downward . . . and it would be unconscionable for Congress to adjourn for the year without providing critical, additional assistance for LIHEAP, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, at a time of skyrocketing fuel prices. There should be no mistake, this is an emergency and a crisis we know is coming, and it would be an abrogation of our responsibility to stand by and allow it to occur. It does not take a crystal ball to predict the dire consequences when home heating oil in Maine is $2.52 per gallon, up 59 cents from a year ago . . . kerosene prices average $2.95 a gallon, 75 cents higher than this time last year, and it is not even winter yet. Some projections have a gallon of heating oil reaching $3.00. So understandably, we are already hearing the mounting concern ``how will I pay for home heating oil when it's 30 percent more than last year, and I struggled to make ends meet then?'' ``How will I afford to pay half again as much for natural gas?'' People need to know now that they can count on us for assistance. This is a necessity of life--so much so that 73 percent of households in a recent survey reported they would cut back on, and even go without, other necessities such as food, prescription drugs, and mortgage and rent payments.…”