Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) today sent a strong letter of support for LIHEAP to Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Patty Murray (D-WA), chair and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education, and Related Agencies. The letter asks for the highest possible funding level for LIHEAP in the final fiscal year 2020 appropriations bill. The letter refers to an earlier letter signed by a bipartisan group of 44 Senators urging the committee to support increased funding for LIHEAP.
The funding level provided by the House bill is $3.84 billion, which is $150 million more than the comparable Senate level of $3.69 billion. Senators Reed and Collins cite data collected by NEADA demonstrating that the current funding level is able to serve just one out of six eligible households, and that the purchasing power of LIHEAP has decreased since 2010.