A bipartisan group of 31 senators on Nov. 14 sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., encouraging the agency to immediately release the highest amount of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding available under the recently signed continuing resolution (CR).
The letter was led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
The letter emphasizes that LIHEAP provides critical assistance to low-income households and seniors to help with their energy bills, and it is important that state agencies and tribes have the resources on hand to help these people as they begin to activate their LIHEAP programs for the coming winter.
The CR that was signed into law last week by President Trump gives HHS permission to request that the Office of Management and Budget release 90 percent of the $4.015 billion allocated for LIHEAP for Fiscal Year 2026.
Now that the government shutdown has ended, staff within HHS’s Administration for Children and Families are expected to resume work on LIHEAP. However, it may be one to two months before utilities are reimbursed on behalf of LIHEAP-eligible households, APPA noted.
