Low-income Vermonters could see their fuel assistance checks cut in half unless Congress restores money to a heating aid program when it votes on the continuing resolution, or stopgap budget, in mid-November.
Gov. Peter Shumlin said the Obama administration went ahead with deep cuts to the Low Income Heating Assistance Program in spite of appeals made by governors in northern states to keep the program whole. The announcement was made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last Friday.
Under the president’s plan, Vermont will receive $11 million for LIHEAP this year; last year the total was $23 million. The average benefit last year was 262 gallons, or about $866. The White House has approved 96 gallons of free fuel for income- qualifying households for this winter. About 27,800 Vermont families rely on the federal program to stay warm. The average number of gallons a Vermont household uses is about 764 gallons a year.
“I’m going to make sure that regardless of what happens that Vermonters have adequate heat to stay warm this winter,” Shumlin said. “That’s a basic need that must be met.”
The cuts come at a time when home heating fuel prices are going up. Heating fuel oil and kerosene are almost a dollar a gallon more this year over last on average (oil is $3.68 a gallon, up from $2.76), according to the Vermont Fuel Price Report. Propane prices are up by about 30 cents per gallon more, on average. Read the Vermont Fuel Price Report.
The price increases and cuts to LIHEAP will be very difficult for low-income Vermonters to absorb, Shumlin said.
“These are Vermonters who have nothing,” the governor said. “These are Vermonters who are making decisions between prescription drugs, food on the table, clothing and heat.”
Shumlin, along with governors throughout New England, is demanding that Congress approve the higher benefit level (192 gallons) in the Senate budget bill in order to “avoid total disaster.”
In the meantime, Shumlin has asked his administration to distribute the $11 million in benefits to households right away. State officials will also borrow $2.5 million from the state’s Weatherization Trust Fund to augment the federal funds so that $13.5 million worth of fuel in all is made available to low-income Vermonters.
Distributing the fuel aid now will ensure, Shumlin said, that LIHEAP beneficiaries get one delivery “right now while we fight for more funding in Washington.”
“We’re not going to let Vermonters freeze in their homes this winter,” Shumlin said. “We need Congress’ help, and it is absolutely unacceptable that to contemplate that we would see that kind of reduction to Vermonters when it’s cold, when we need to keep them warm.”
The governor is working with the New England governors, and governors from New York State, Maryland and Illinois, “to send a clear message to Congress that this would be a disaster for Vermont (and other states).”
“The stakes are high,” Shumlin said. “This transcends party, this transcends partisanship, and I intend to do everything I can as governor, with my administration, working together with our congressional delegation to ensure that no Vermonter goes cold this winter.”
Demand for heating fuel assistance is up by 5 percent to 7 percent in Vermont this year. The Department of Children and Families has received 40,000 applications this year, and about 22,000 households will receive assistance by mid-November. The state’s five community action councils are receiving more than 100 calls a day, according to Hal Cohen, the executive director of the Central Vermont Community Action Council.
The situation, Cohen said, “is already critical.” In Central Vermont, more than 100 families are already without fuel.
“What we’ve heard is happening is that people are right now selling personal goods to get fuel money,” Cohen said. “They are withholding rent, they’re buying less food — they’re doing everything possible to get some fuel in their tanks.”
Cohen said he expects the state will run out of money for LIHEAP fuel in early January. Typically, the federal funding has carried most residents through the coldest months of the heating season.
Replacing the federal funds with state money is not a good option, Shumlin said. At one point the Legislature had hoped to set aside some funding for the long-anticipated cut to the LIHEAP program, but Irene flood damage ate up what was left of the Agency of Human Services caseload reserve.
“I don’t want to pretend that Vermonters have the dollars in our pockets to replace every budget cut being proposed by Washington,” Shumlin said.
Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., urged the U.S. House leadership to fund LIHEAP at last year’s levels. The House Appropriations Committee’s proposal to cut funding for LIHEAP by $1.3 billion will eliminate 2 million families nationwide from the program. New York State would lose $180 million and Massachusetts would receive $60 million less.
“According to a survey conducted by the National Energy Assistance Director’s Association, nearly one third of families receiving LIHEAP assistance reported that they went without food during the last five years as a result of high home energy costs,” Welch wrote in a letter to Speaker John Boehner. “Over 40 percent of families reported sacrificing medical care and 25 percent reported that someone in the home became sick because the home was too cold.”