National Energy Assistance Directors Association Appeal to the President

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Obama:

On behalf of the state directors of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), we are writing to express our concern about your recent statement in Iowa that states have not been able to spend their full LIHEAP allocation. We would like to clarify the situation concerning unspent LIHEAP funds.
First, LIHEAP is more than a heating program; it is also used to provide cooling assistance to low income families. This has been especially important this year as a result of extreme warm weather conditions in many parts of the country.
Second, while the winter heating season is over, many states are running cooling programs and other emergency assistance programs that will run through September 30, 2011. We recently surveyed the states and found that the remaining funds for FY 2011 are being used to pay for cooling bills this summer and emergency reconnections for families that have fallen behind on their bills due to loss of employment or other circumstances. In fact, the states are expecting to serve a record number of households this year, approaching nine million for the first time in the program¹s history.
The state directors understand the need for deficit reduction; however, your proposal to cut the LIHEAP program to $2.5 billion (from $5.1 billion in FY
2010) would require states to reduce the number of households served by as many as four million families. As we approach the beginning of the 2011-12 heating season, we believe that the number of households applying for assistance will remain at the nine million level, or could even move higher reflecting the continuing economic distress and high energy prices. As such, we respectfully request that you consider supporting LIHEAP at the FY 2010 funding level of $5.1 billion.
As state officials, we hope that once the economy recovers, the number of households applying for assistance will return to the historical average of between 4.5 and 5.0 million families. However, the present need is significant and the existing funds are insufficient.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Jo-Ann Choate
National Energy Assistance Directors' Association Chair