Susan Collins: “this amendment would express the sense of the Senate that any increases in revenues to the Treasury as a result of this…”

“this amendment would express the sense of the Senate that any increases in revenues to the Treasury as a result of this act, above the amounts specified in the reconciliation instructions, shall be dedicated to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, also known as LIHEAP, up to the fully authorized amount. Just a few months ago, the President signed into law the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This law, which passed the Senate overwhelmingly, authorizes $5.1 billion for the LIHEAP program for Fiscal Year 2006. Unfortunately, even though Chairman Specter worked very hard to increase funding in the Labor-HHS bill, that bill only provides $2.2 billion in LIHEAP funding but $2.2 billion is not nearly enough. The amendment I am offering today expresses the sense of the Senate that up to an additional $2.9 billion in excess revenues should be made available to the LIHEAP program. Our Nation was struck by three extremely powerful hurricanes. While these hurricanes were devastating to the people of Florida and the gulf coast, they have also had a major impact on the rest of the Nation. Just as the Nation should be building oil supplies for the winter heating season, these hurricanes have disrupted our already strained supplies and sent both heating oil and gasoline prices to painfully high levels.…”