Native American tribes fear end of federal heating help
WHITE RIVER, S.D. (AP) — Eva Iyotte was waiting on propane ordered under a federal energy assistance program President Donald Trump has targeted for elimination when she lost power at her home on frozen tribal land in South Dakota.
As the January conditions sent temperatures plummeting inside the house, the 63-year-old, her daughter and two grandsons took blankets to their car, where they waited with the heater running until the electricity was restored.
Iyotte said there would be many more cold days like that if the program ends. It’s unclear whether Congress, which passes the federal budget, will agree to the change the Trump administration is seeking.
“We might be poor, but we’re like other people. We want to survive,” said Iyotte, a member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe. “If that program is cut, I don’t know who’s going to help us out.”
Tribal officials in states with harsh winters fear what would happen without the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, also known as LIHEAP. Ending it, as Trump’s budget blueprint would do, could disproportionately affect Native Americans, backers of the program say.
Iyotte said propane is the primary heating source for her home. As she waited for it to arrive in January, she kept a pot of water boiling on the electric stove for warmth — until the power went out.
“People will die” without LIHEAP, said Eileen Shot, who administers it for the Rosebud Sioux, which has gotten about $850,000 this fiscal year. Trump’s budget blueprint calls it a “lower-impact program.”
It’s not Trump’s only move to spur concern among tribes.
His strong support for oil pipelines including Dakota Access and Keystone XL put him in direct opposition to American Indians who have long resisted both projects.
LIHEAP helps low-income households meet their heating and cooling needs. Under federal income guidelines, American Indians qualify for the program at slightly higher rates than Latino and black households, and far higher than whites, according to a February report from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank that supports officials and experts who serve minority communities.
Besides tribal members’ higher poverty rates, some reservations are in rural areas with extreme weather, and many are home to large populations of young and elderly members, making the help even more critical, said Clara Pratte, director for the Campaign for Home Energy Assistance, which works to ensure the LIHEAP program is fully funded.