The President’s Budget for FY 2015 was released yesterday. It calls for deep cuts in LIHEAP. The President’s Budget would reduce LIHEAP by $674.4 million from $3.4 billion to $2.8 billion. The Budget would provide $2.55 billion in formula funds and $200 million in emergency funds. Of the remaining funds, $50 million would be used for “making competitive grants to current grantees to assist low-income households in reducing home energy burden and for conducting a national evaluation of such grants.” The bottom line is that the program would result in a reduction of 1.6 million households, from about 6.9 households in the current year to 5.3 million households.
In light of the extreme cold weather and very high prices for delivered fuels, I highly doubt that these cuts will be enacted.
Other programs of interest:
Funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program would be increased from $174 million to $227 million.