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(WPRI/NEXSTAR) — Billions of dollars in federal aid is being made available to help Americans with their heating bills through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The Biden administration said Wednesday that roughly $4.5 billion has been allocated for LIHEAP this winter, to help low-income families pay their energy or utility bills, or, in some cases, to cover the cost of weatherization or repairs. The funds will be distributed to states, territories and tribal governments this week.

Have you heard the rumor that the number of food stamp recipients has increased during President Obama’s term from 28.2 million to 46.6 million? Have you heard that in only three years, the annual cost of the program, which was already astronomical at $35 billion, has soared to $76 billion? It certainly has been the talk of the town (if not the campaign), but does anyone really know how we got to this state of affairs? That is what I set out to discover. Even the most basic details about the program seem surreal. Why in the world is this...

Just in time for the cold weather and holiday season, states have learned that Congress cut $1.2 billion from a program to provide heating and cooling assistance to low-income families. The large spending bill that Congress approved this month for 2012 contained about $3.5 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Advocates of LIHEAP had hoped Congress would fund the program at its 2010 level of $5.1 billion; it was funded at $4.7 billion for 2011, an amount that several governors urged Congress to maintain for this year. President Obama’s budget proposal would have cut LIHEAP funding...

The Circle of Protection radio advertisements being broadcast in three states right now make their arguments, such as they are, from a quotation of the Bible and a federal poverty program that might be cut in a debt ceiling compromise. But the scriptural quotation is a serious misuse of the Book of Proverbs, and the claims about heating assistance programs are at best overblown: the ads are really not better than their goofy contemporary piano track.The Circle of Protection, of which the group Sojourners that produced the ads is a founding member, enjoyed the high honor of a meeting at...

The LIHEAP lie: Harry Reid's slick trickWednesday, Jul. 30, 2008 In June, Sen. Judd Gregg co-sponsored legislation to double funding for the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). It has been reported that on Saturday, Gregg voted against his own bill. Not true. Here is what happened. On Tuesday, Republicans voted with Democrats to open debate on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act. To avoid a vote on offshore drilling, Reid refused to allow any amendments to the bill. Republicans, holding out for amendments, offered to allow a vote on the LIHEAP bill if...

Press Releases Contact: Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami 202-226-7616 For Immediate Release 01/09/2008 Pelosi: President Must Join Congress to Address Skyrocketing Energy Prices Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement following the release of Energy Information Administration data this week indicating gas prices are expected to average more than $3 a gallon through 2009 and peak near $3.50 this spring. EIA also released forecasts on home heating oil, which is expected to increase 37.6 percent over last winter. "With families struggling with the rising cost of home heating, it is imperative that the Bush Administration release $590 million of LIHEAP...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has agreed to put an additional $1 billion this year into a program to help poor people with energy costs, but only after overcoming resistance from warm state senators who said those suffering from summer heat weren't getting their fair share.The additional spending would increase to $3.1 billion the amount the federal government will have this year for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, a decades-old program that subsidizes heating and cooling costs for poor families.The legislation, which still must be considered by the House, passed by a voice vote Tuesday, but only after a...

In Venezuela, publishing this report would be a crime carrying a 40-month prison sentence. Autocrats and Activists Warning! Do not discuss, debate, or distribute this report in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. This report contains statements critical of President Hugo Chávez, a criminal offense punishable by fine and imprisonment there. The Law on the Social Responsibility of Radio and Television went into effect in Venezuela in November 2004, followed by amendments to Venezuela’s Criminal Code that went into force in March 2005. These measures make it a criminal offense to insult or show disrespect for the president and other government...

AUGUSTA - A legislative panel learned Thursday the Baldacci administration is preparing for fuel shortages and considering emergency state allocations to help prop up programs that provide relief from rising heating oil costs. The Legislature's Appropriations Committee also was informed of shortfalls within one of the state's most popular heating programs that provides financial assistance to Maine's poorest residents. Dale McCormick, director of the Maine State Housing Authority, asked lawmakers to consider an emergency funding request of $10.2 million from the state's General Fund to bolster insufficient federal revenues. "This is not going to be a good year for Maine...