A critical federal home heating assistance program that provides billions in relief to low-income families every year is at risk with the government shutdown now in its fifth week.
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) provides $4.1 billion in funds to 5.9 million households to help heat and cool their homes, for energy crises and home weatherization, and minor energy-related repairs. Now that temperatures are dropping across the country, some states are cautioning that the funds for the program are being delayed by the shutdown.
This comes as low-income Americans are also grappling with the sudden postponement of benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food stamp program, which provides food to 41 million Americans every year.
SNAP funds might start rolling out as soon as Nov. 5 after judges last week ordered the Trump administration to tap into emergency contingency funds the government said was illegal to access for this purpose.
The administration had said it couldn’t use the emergency funds for food stamp benefits during a shutdown after removing a Sept. 30 memo from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) website that stated the opposite, that “these multi-year contingency funds are also available to fund participant benefits in the event that a lapse occurs in the middle of the fiscal year.”
While the Trump administration said on Sunday it will not appeal the ruling on SNAP, that doesn’t address the funding shortfall for LIHEAP.
Hellbound and Down 