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STATEMENT BY SENATOR KENNEDY ON LIHEAP


Today’s Senate action to move to debate on increasing funds for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program for this winter will hopefully become a step in the right direction. Democrats have pressed for months to increase funds for LIHEAP to the authorized level of $5.1 billion. We’ve urged the Republican leadership and the President to act, but the Republican majority has blocked our efforts at every turn, and families are paying a steep price for that neglect. The average LIHEAP grant has decreased by almost 10 percent since 2002, and is now only $288. In fact, countless citizens in communities throughout America live year-round with the constant threat of power shut-offs because they can’t pay their energy bills, and they have no confidence that either Congress or this President are on their side. In Massachusetts, the state government has provided $20 million in additional funds for LIHEAP this year. Low-income families are more fortunate in our state than in most other states on this issue, but we haveexhausted all federal funds, and there is still great need. Even the poorest households with the highest bills will get no more than $840--less than half what is needed to get through the winter. It’s wrong to let people like this suffer. We can and must do more. The Republican majority has refused to fully fund LIHEAP, but surely they won’t deny our most vulnerable citizens an increase of $1 billion so that they can make it through the winter.