Trump plan on heat aid met coolly

PORTLAND, Maine - The summer air is sizzling as the Fourth of July approaches, yet 86-year-old Richard Perkins already worries about how he’s going to stay warm this winter.

President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating heating aid for lowincome Americans, saying it’s no longer necessary and rife with fraud. People needn’t worry about being left in the cold, he says, because utilities cannot cut off customers in the dead of winter.

But, there are many who disagree with the president’s arguments.

The heating program provides a critical lifeline for people like Perkins. Officials close to the program don’t see any widespread fraud. Guidelines for winter shutoffs by utilities vary from state to state and don’t apply to heating oil, a key energy source in New England.

“It’s beyond my thinking that anyone could be that cruel,” said Perkins, a retired restaurateur who relies on the program to keep warm in Ogunquit, Maine.

(In Wisconsin, utilities are barred from disconnecting customers who are behind on their energy bills during the winter.)

The proposal to kill the program, which has distributed $3.4 billion to about 6 million households this fiscal year, will face strong opposition in Congress. Forty-three senators from mostly cold-weather states already signed a letter urging the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on an appropriations subcommittee to ensure funding for the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program. Perkins is a typical recipient. His income was fine 10 or 12 years ago when he retired, but gasoline, food and other expenses grew faster than he anticipated. In the winter, he keeps an eye on his oil storage tank, and the local community action agency sends 100 gallons when it gets low.

It’s difficult for him to keep warm because he’s on a blood thinner, and he shudders at the thought of being cold. But he doesn’t want to move south, either.

“I was born and raised here,” he said. “Maine is part of me. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”

Mark Wolfe, of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, said that the Trump administration is relying on an old General Accounting Office report on the fraud claim, and that improvements have been made since then. In Maine, for example, only 100 cases — 0.3% of all submitted applications — are being investigated for potential fraud, according to MaineHousing.