The Administration’s released its FY 2014 Budget today. It calls for deep cuts to LIHEAP and CSBG. For LIHEAP, the budget would cut the appropriation from $3.47 billion (prior to the sequester) to $2.97 billion. The text states that, “The Budget provides for $3 billion for LIHEAP to help struggling families with residential heating and cooling expenses. The Budget targets funds to States with vulnerable households facing high home heating costs.
The Budget includes $50 million for competitive grants to help reduce energy burdens for LIHEAP households that rely on persistently high-cost systems.” – this would suggest a weatherization component and/or education program proposal or both.
The bottom line is the proposed cuts would reduce the number of households served by about one million. See attached table.
For CSBG, the Budget states that “the program’s current structure does too little to hold these agencies accountable for outcomes. The Budget provides $350 million for CSBG and proposes to use competition to target these funds to high-performing agencies that are most successful in meeting important community needs” – this appears to be similar to last year’s proposal.