"This program has helped to keep many families from having to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table. Those living on fixed incomes operate on especially pinched budgets during the long winter months we can experience in Iowa. We need to make sure help is available for those who need it," Grassley said.
Thirty million Americans are eligible for assistance from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program known as LIHEAP, but Grassley said many are forced to go without help because of the fact that funding for the program has declined by 48 percent since 1985.
Grassley and others signed a letter sent today to the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS and Education. The senators urged support for funding in the amount of $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2000 and advanced funding in the amount of $1.3 billion for fiscal year 2001. Last year, Congress reauthorized the LIHEAP program through fiscal year 2004, and stated that the program is eligible for funding up to $2 billion in fiscal years 2002 through 2004.
Assistance provided by LIHEAP is based on household income, household size, type of heating fuel, and type of housing. Other factors considered include elderly or handicapped households and households with young children. To qualify, a household of four must fall below a $24,075 annual gross income, or a three-month gross income of $6,018.