Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
A cool response to Trump plan to stop heating aid
less than a quarter of eligible households, said Deborah Turcotte of MaineHousing, which helps to run the program.
Mark Wolfe, of the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, said 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 percent of all submitted applications — are being investigated for potential fraud, according to MaineHousing.
And programs aimed at preventing utilities from being turned off wouldn’t protect everyone. Utility regulations vary, with some states preventing shutoffs during the entire winter and others doing so only on exceptionally cold days.
And there’s no requirement for heating oil and propane dealers, which are not regulated like electric and natural gas utilities, to make deliveries to customers who cannot pay. That’s a big problem in the Northeast, which accounts for more than 80 percent of the nation’s residential heating oil consumption.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who contends the LIHEAP program doesn’t demonstrate “strong performance outcomes,” said difficult decisions are necessary to streamline the government to focus on the administration’s goals of defense and public safety.
The LIHEAP program already has undergone substantial cuts. The average benefit was reduced by $100 from 2010 to 2015 as funding was slashed during the Obama administration. That coincides with Venezuela’s Citgo Petroleum Corp. ending participation in a free-oil program run by a Massachusetts-based nonprofit.
Nationwide, the average home heating cost last winter was $1,448 for propane, $1,227 for heating oil, $902 for electricity and $577 for natural gas.
The program also distributes aid to poor people in states such as Florida and Arizona to keep cool on blazing hot summer days.
Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said he and other senators, including Susan Collins, RMaine, will fight for the program, which he said ensures that needy people “aren’t forced to make the impossible choice between heat and food, medications, or other necessities.”