Funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) would increase by $10 million to $4.055 billion in an appropriations bill to be considered by the House Committee on Appropriations on June 9.
The bill was first released June 4 by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) and was passed on a party-line 11-7 vote by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies on June 5.
The increase is particularly remarkable given that overall appropriations provided by the bill would decline by nine percent. The increase is also a rejection of the Trump Administration’s continued effort to eliminate LIHEAP.
APPA strongly supports LIHEAP and has worked closely with the National Energy Utility Affordability Coalition in support of increased LIHEAP funding. A summary of the bill -- the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill, 2027 -- can be found here.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies was set to mark up the bill on June 5.
FEMA
The Appropriations Committee will also take up on June 10 the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, 2027, which would provide $34.1 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a $2 billion increase over the fiscal year (FY) 2026 appropriation and $1.5 billion more than was requested by President Trump.
The bill was also first released on June 4 by Chairman Cole and was approved by voice vote by the Subcommittee on Homeland Security on June 5.
Specifically, the bill would provide $28.389 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund to support response and recovery efforts following major disasters and emergencies and $3.8 billion for grant programs and education, trainings, and exercises.
The bill includes a new provision mandating the issuance of Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) funding.
It also targets the backlog of individual and public assistance requests stuck on “final review” at FEMA for 60 days or longer. Specifically for every day in which the number of such outstanding requests exceeds 500, the appropriation for the Office of the Secretary of Homeland Security would be cut by $100,000.
