The Senate Appropriations Committee provided $4 billion for LIHEAP in the FFY 2023 appropriations bill for Labor/HHS/Education released today, an increase of $200 million over FFY 2022 funding. The bill includes a hold harmless that guarantees no state will receive less than 97 percent of the amount it received in 2022. This type of hold harmless has become more common in recent years in order to prevent idiosyncrasies in the formula from resulting in a state receiving less funds year-over-year when overall funding for the program has increased. The calculation for the hold harmless does not include the $4.5 billion in supplemental LIHEAP funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
The House also proposed $4 billion for LIHEAP last month, but includes a different way of calculating the hold harmless. The two bills will need to be reconciled later in the appropriations process.
The Senate’s Energy and Water Appropriations bill for FFY 2023 provides $313 million for the Weatherization Assistance Program, $10 million for training and technical assistance and $30 million for the Weatherization Readiness Fund.
The House’s proposal, released in June, provides $330 million for the program, and the same amounts as for training and the readiness fund as the Senate proposal.
There is no mention of LIHWAP or the unfunded EPA water pilots in any of the Senate bills released today.
Finally, there is no additional funding for LIHEAP or LIHWAP in the Inflation Reduction Act negotiated by Senators Manchin and Schumer, which was released late last night. NEADA is in the process of analyzing the provisions in the bill to determine what impact, if any, they would have on LIHEAP or LIHWAP