Patrick Leahy: “I join Senator Snowe and others in supporting this legislation to provide additional funding for the Low- Income Home…”

“I join Senator Snowe and others in supporting this legislation to provide additional funding for the Low- Income Home Energy Assistance Program, LIHEAP. This legislation will shift the $1 billion in fiscal year 2007 funding, which we recently enacted in the budget reconciliation bill, to the current fiscal year, so it can be used this winter. Providing these needed funds in this way is not the best approach to get this done, but with Vermonters facing record heating bills and no other choices available to us at this crucial juncture, we cannot allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. The fact is the burden of record heating prices this winter could financially wipe out many families and elderly Vermonters. No family in our Nation should be forced to choose between heating their home and putting food on the table for their children. No older American should have to decide between buying life- saving prescriptions or paying utility bills. Unfortunately, these stark choices are a reality for too many Vermonters and for too many other Americans across the Nation. This legislation will bring the total funding available for LIHEAP in fiscal year 2006 up to nearly $3 billion. Certainly more is needed. That is why I have voted four times to increase LIHEAP funding to $5.1 billion.…”