Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) released the following statement today following the announcement that the Administration has agreed to release the remaining contingency funds available for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

“I’m pleased that the President has finally heeded the request that my colleagues and I have been making for months and released all available LIHEAP funding. Low income families in Connecticut received little more than $500 last winter to help with heating bills that could be as high as four times that amount this year. This $7 million in additional heating assistance will go a long way toward helping Connecticut’s low income households heat their homes this coming winter,” said Dodd.

“The release of these funds is the right thing to do and represents a positive step forward, but it is not the long term answer to this crisis. Heating oil prices have risen dramatically over the last several years and are threatening to go even higher this winter. Rising heating costs force low-income families to face the dangerous choice between heating their homes, driving their cars to and from work, or putting food on the table.

“It is long past time to fully fund LIHEAP and I intend to keep fighting to ensure that we do just that.”

Connecticut is set to receive $6,962,123 in remaining LIHEAP funds.  Last year, more than 86,000 households in Connecticut received assistance through LIHEAP.

-30-