The federal dollars go to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program known as LIHEAP. The program helps low-income families, senior citizens, and people with disabilities pay for home heating and cooling.
Grassley said Iowa needs the additional money to make up for extraordinary demands on the program last winter.
"The combination of higher than normal heating fuel prices and a colder than normal winter made thousands more Iowans eligible for energy assistance. As a result, Iowa's LIHEAP dollars were spent well before the end of the fiscal year," Grassley said. "Now that Congress has provided more money, the administration should release it to the states right away. In Iowa, the state agency needs the money to make up for last winter, help older Iowans stay cool in extreme summer heat, and prepare for next winter," Grassley said.
Iowa is one of seven states that have exhausted their LIHEAP money for the current fiscal year. Nearly 85,000 Iowa households applied for heating assistance last winter. That was a 35 percent increase over the 62,000 Iowa households that received LIHEAP funds the year before. Due to the shortfall of funds, the Iowa program had to borrow money from other programs, and 2,000 eligible families in Iowa had to be turned down for assistance.
The additional $300 million was included in supplemental appropriations legislation for fiscal 2001. Iowa stands to gain about $5.9 million of the total amount approved unanimously today.
Nationwide, LIHEAP provides heating and cooling assistance to low-income households, including the working poor, those making the transition from welfare to work, the disabled and elderly, and families with young children.