Column
from U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
Tough Choices in Harsh Wisconsin Winters
October 8, 2008
It’s a gut-wrenching
decision too many Wisconsin families are forced to make during our state’s
often harsh winters -- in a tough economy and on a limited budget, do
they pay to heat their home or pay for prescriptions, groceries, and
other essentials? For their own health and safety, no family should
be forced to make that kind of choice.
With the Low Income Home
Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), the federal government helps families
pay heating bills, reduce energy consumption, and implement projects
to lower energy costs, such as window replacement. Home improvements
from this program reduce energy costs and save money over time. LIHEAP
is increasingly important as energy prices skyrocket, but the administration
once again proposed drastically underfunding it, at levels where the
program would only serve 15 percent of eligible families.
To provide immediate assistance,
this September I worked with Senator Kohl and a bipartisan group of
senators in a successful effort to release emergency LIHEAP funds, including
more than $3.4 million for Wisconsin. This is in addition to other efforts
that have helped bring more than $328 million in LIHEAP funding to Wisconsin
from 2005 to August 2008.
In order to keep more Wisconsinites
out of the cold this winter, Congress needs to provide better support
for this vital program. Throughout this year, most recently in mid-September,
I urged Senate appropriators to help Wisconsin families this winter
by fully funding LIHEAP. After years of pushing for stronger support
of LIHEAP, it was an extraordinary victory for low-income families when
Congress voted in late September to fully fund LIHEAP for only the second
time since its inception in 1981.
While increased LIHEAP funding
will help more Wisconsin families to be healthy and warm this winter,
the federal government must provide long-term, consistent support to
the program. Steady backing for LIHEAP will be critical as our tough
economy puts more and more families in need of home heating assistance.
Wisconsinites know how to
make the best of even the toughest winters, but we also know how vital
a warm home is during hazardous low temperatures and dangerous winter
storms. Working with members of both parties, I will continue to fight
for the LIHEAP funds Wisconsin needs to keep our families safe and warm
this winter, and in the winters to come.
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