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Energy Emergency
"The reason that this legislation is so terribly important right now is not only that the price of heating oil is substantially higher than it was last year, but the economy is in a lot worse shape. So unemployment is going up, people's wages are going down, people are paying more for health care, for food, for education. People have less disposable income. If we did not substantially increase funding for low income home energy assistance, senior citizens on fixed incomes, persons with disabilities and families with children in Vermont and throughout the northern part of the country would have gone cold this winter."
- Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
In June of 2008, Sen. Sanders introduced the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act, S. 3186, to provide immediate relief to millions of senior citizens, families with children and the disabled who are struggling to pay their home energy bills. In July, despite the majority of his fellow senators supporting his important legislation to the tune of a 50-35 vote on the senate floor, the bill did not pass because of yet another filibuster. Yet, in late September, as part of a large stopgap bill, the House and Senate passed Sanders’ proposal and it was signed into law by the president.
The bill nearly doubles the funding for the highly successful Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) from $2.57 billion to $5.1 billion, a total increase of $2.53 billion. Vermont could receive about $35 million this winter, up from $17 million last winter
Below, you will find an archive of important articles related to this home energy emergency. You can read more about the senator's legislation here.
Delegation Announces Home Energy Funding Increase - 10/10/2008
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Delegation brings home LIHEAP aid (Vermont Press Bureau) - 10/10/2008
By Peter Hirschfeld
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Peter Welch regaled a small audience at the Champlain Senior Center with accounts of their Washington, D.C., success. Relentless teamwork, they said, resulted in a continuing resolution that doubled national LIHEAP funding from $2.6 billion last year to $5.1 billion this year. Vermont's share of LIHEAP funding will rise proportionally, from $17 million to about $35 million for the 200-8/2009 winter season.
"We came together in July, and the three of us pledged to Vermonters that we would push the LIHEAP issue all the way to end of the session," Leahy said. "... The three of us promised Vermont we would. And we have."
Sanders said the state ought to use the bolstered funding to raise the income thresholds presently used to determine eligibility.
"It is my hope and my strong expectation that more people are going to be covered," he said. READ MORE
Vermont expected to get $35 million in heating aid (Burlington Free Press) - 09/26/2008
By Erin Kelly
WASHINGTON -- The Senate is poised to pass legislation that would double home heating aid for low-income Vermonters to about $35 million.
The bill, passed this week by the House, would boost the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program by more than $5 billion nationwide.
Vermont's share would grow from $17 million this year to about $35 million in fiscal year 2009, which begins Oct. 1.
The Vermont congressional delegation, fearing a cold winter and record heating oil costs, had made a funding increase for the program its priority for this legislative year. Congress is expected to wrap up in the next few days.
"If this had not gone through, it would have been a profound disaster for the state," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who introduced the legislation this year. "There would have been real suffering, people going cold, children becoming ill and maybe ending up in the hospital, possibly even people freezing to death." READ MORE
Sanders, Welch push for heating aid (Burlington Free Press) - 09/22/2008
By Erin Kelly, Free Press Washington Writer
WASHINGTON — With only a short time left before Congress adjourns before the November election, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch said their priority is to try to pass legislation to bring $20 million more to Vermont to help struggling residents pay high heating costs this winter.
Sanders, I-Vt., had more than 50 votes to pass the bill in July, but it was blocked by a Republican filibuster that required 60 votes to end. Although the bill had bipartisan support, it was caught up in a dispute between Republicans and Democrats over oil and gas drilling in environmentally sensitive areas.
Sanders now hopes to revive his bill, dubbed the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act, by attaching it to a must-pass piece of federal spending legislation in the final days of the legislative session.
The bill would help poor Americans across the country by nearly doubling federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program from about e$1.3 billion a year to more than $2.5 billion a year. In addition to helping families heat their homes in cold states such as Vermont, it would help people cool their homes in states with extremely hot summers. READ MORE
Winter heat crisis looms, little relief seen (CNNMoney.com) - 09/02/2008
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High fuel prices and the weak economy could make heating a luxury this winter. And the government's low-income assistance plan may not suffice.
By Ben Rooney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home heating bills are expected to rise dramatically this winter and there is growing concern that the government program aimed at helping poor families cope with energy costs may not be able to meet the needs of cash-strapped households.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is a federally funded program that gives money to states to help low-income households, the elderly and the disabled cope with the financial strain of high heating bills.
This year, however, the program could be squeezed by a projected 20% average increase in heating bills nationwide and an influx of people applying for assistance due to sour economic conditions, high gas prices and a weak labor market.
"This could be the worst winter ever for low-income folks," said Jerry McKim, who oversees Iowa's LIHEAP program for the state's Bureau of Energy Assistance.
While heating oil and natural gas prices have fallen from recent highs, they remain well above last year's level and still pose a significant threat to poor and fixed-income Americans.
"Anything over $2.50 a gallon for low-income family is a budget buster," said Richard Moffi, who manages Vermont's LIHEAP program. READ MORE
Editorial: The High Cost of Low Temperatures (New York Times) - 09/01/2008
The price of home heating oil has dropped from a peak of over $4.60 a gallon, but it is still about 40 percent higher than it was a year ago. That could mean painful choices for some Americans this winter — between heat and balanced meals or between heat and medicines.
While everybody will suffer from high energy costs, people with oil heat — about eight million households, many in the Northeast — are especially vulnerable. Users of natural gas or electric heat from a local utility are generally protected by law from shutoffs, but people who can’t pay their private oil suppliers are not.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is designed to provide help for such people. About six million households were helped last year; the average grant was over $300. With even higher prices, the program will obviously need more resources this winter. But a bill to appropriate an additional $2.5 billion failed in July, a casualty of partisan infighting over opening coastal areas to offshore drilling. The Democrats will try again this month when they seek to add up to $2.5 billion for the program to the supplemental appropriations bill. READ MORE
Editorial: Home-heating disaster looms (Boston Globe) - 08/09/2008
THE NEAR doubling of heating oil prices since last year could create a public health disaster if federal, state, and local officials do not act now to protect the most vulnerable. The country had a few days to prepare for Hurricane Katrina, and failed. It has more than three months to prepare for this frozen Katrina, and there will be no excuse this time.
While natural gas rates have also increased since last year, the most dramatic hike has been in the cost of heating oil, which is up 81 percent. Of the country's 8 million households that heat with oil, 1 million are in Massachusetts. In recent years, about 45,000 of them have qualified for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which is limited to families of four earning less than $41,300. With the spike in heating costs this year, many families earning above that level are going to have trouble keeping oil in their tanks.
A frozen Katrina will be measured in hypothermia cases and malnutrition or unfilled prescriptions if the poor are forced to spend grocery or medicine money on fuel. Fire marshals worry that families will turn to dangerous makeshift heating alternatives, risking fire or carbon monoxide poisoning. Both the congressional delegation and the state government's winter energy task force are alert to the looming threat. Now they must act to make sure that something as predictable as the change of seasons does not endanger the health and safety of the state's poor and elderly. READ MORE
Winter Fuel Costs Up; Fuel Assistance Lags (Hardwick Gazette) - 08/06/2008
By Mike Schaefer
Many Vermonter, especially those in Hardwick and the surrounding areas, are preparing for the seasonally cold winter months by ordering home heating oil and cords of wood from local companies. But for those who often feel the pinch of the winter heating costs, the season represents a significant downturn in access to appropriate services.
"It's kind of the big question this year about how much we need in terms of what the average benefit was last year and what the purchasing power of this year's dollars equates to," said Richard Moffi, Vermont's fuel assistance program chief. "Right now, it's a base benefit of about $600 per household or 133 gallons of heating oil. That doesn't last long in a Vermont winter."
Moffi said that in the past 12 years, the president and Congress have always been there when more money is needed for the program through contingency and emergency funding. The fact that Douglas is urging for contingency funding to be released now is some what of a red flag.
The governors has voiced their support for the efforts of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, to provide an additional $2.73 billion in FY/2008 funding for LIHEAP in regular program and contingency funding. In light of a recent defeat of the Sanders bill, the governors believe the prompt release of the remaining contingency funding is critical to ensuring states - particularly those in the Northeast - can adequately prepare for the fall heating season. READ MORE
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