Low-Income Home Energy Assistance

LOW-INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE -- (Senate - September 22, 2005)

Mr. REED. Mr. President, headlines across the Nation warn of an impending disaster facing American families this winter--rising energy prices that could wipe out working-class families and seniors. The New York Times reports:

Energy Prices Lead Inflation, Overcoming Salary Increases.

The Wall Street Journal states:

Soaring Natural-Gas Prices Point to Record-High Electricity Costs.

USA Today states:

Heating Prices Loom as Problems this Winter.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina's devastation in the gulf region, Americans were facing record prices for oil, natural gas, and propane. Hurricane Katrina exacerbated these costs by damaging production platforms and ports and curtailing production at refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. Now Hurricane Rita threatens further damage and, in turn, price increases. Natural gas prices are hitting all-time highs, and crude oil and gasoline prices are again on the rise.

Consumers are feeling the price increases at the pump. But with winter looming, the full effect of these costs has yet to hit us.

In New England, the average heating cost for a family using heating oil is projected to reach $1,666 during the upcoming winter. This represents an increase of $403 over last winter's prices and $714 over the winter heating season of 2003-2004, almost a $1,000 increase in 2 years.

For a family using natural gas in the Midwest, prices are projected to hit $1,568, representing an increase of $611 over last year's prices and $643 over the heating season of 2003-2004. The Mortgage Bankers Association expects steep energy costs could increase the number of missed payments and lost homes beginning later this year.

Yesterday, the State energy directors released a survey about the choices that LIHEAP households make when they face unaffordable energy bills. Of course, LIHEAP is the Low-Income Heating Assistance Program that we have authored and supported for many years in Congress. LIHEAP assists low-income Americans and seniors to ensure they can face these prices.

According to the survey by the State energy directors, 73 percent of the households surveyed reported they reduce expenses for other necessities because they do not have enough money to pay for their energy bills. These other necessities are food, prescription drugs, rent, or mortgage payments. In fact, one in five LIHEAP households reported they went without food at least 1 day over the last 5 years due to unaffordable energy bills. Twenty-four percent used their stove or oven to provide heat because they could not fill the tanks to provide heat.

On Monday, I visited the home of Aram Ohanian, an 88-year-old veteran who lives in Rhode Island and whose monthly income consists of $779 in Social Security payments. Money is so tight that Mr. Ohanian sometimes eats at his daughter's house or goes to a local soup kitchen for food. He also gets help from a local food bank. Last year, Mr. Ohanian received a total of $600 in LIHEAP grants to help him keep his home safe and warm. But even with that assistance, he had to close off parts of his house to reduce energy costs.

In communities throughout this Nation, Mr. Ohanian's story repeats itself. The warning has been issued. We know that prices for energy products are on the rise. We can all foretell the next disaster facing American families. The question is, What will we do to protect these Americans from this upcoming energy storm?

We saw the most vulnerable Americans overwhelmed by rising waters in New Orleans. If we do nothing, we can see other vulnerable Americans overwhelmed by rising energy prices this winter.

First, Senator Collins and I, joined by 39 colleagues, are calling on the President and Congress to support $1.3 billion in emergency LIHEAP funding in the comprehensive supplemental appropriations package for Hurricane Katrina. This funding will provide our Nation's most vulnerable low-income families, seniors, and disabled individuals with affordable energy this winter. This is the additional funding--let me stress additional funding--needed for LIHEAP to maintain the purchasing power it had last year. This money is on top of the $3 billion we are seeking for the LIHEAP State grant program in the fiscal year 2006 Labor-HHS appropriations bill; the regular LIHEAP funding, if you will.

States are bracing for a crisis caused by the lack of affordable energy, and this funding will ensure low-income families and seniors have warm homes this winter.

Last year, a Rhode Islander receiving $400 in LIHEAP funds could buy approximately 235 gallons of heating oil, almost a full tank. At $2.60 a gallon, $400 will only buy about 150 gallons of oil, a little over half a tank, which might only last about 2 1/2 weeks. And, indeed, the $2.60 price in Rhode Island is a hard price to find now from oil dealers.

Rhode Island's LIHEAP program estimates the State needs $21 million to serve the 27,000 households it helped last year. I urge all of my colleagues to join Senator Collins and me to support our efforts to secure $4.3 billion for LIHEAP funding this winter.

Second, we need to invest in energy efficiency. The Weatherization Assistance Program is vital to these efforts. The Weatherization Assistance Program has weatherized 5.3 million homes in the United States during its history, including 30,500 in my State of Rhode Island. The program, on average, saves families $274 per year and reduces heating bills by 31 percent. Rhode Island's program alone has saved the United States an equivalent of 43 days' worth of oil consumption, or an equivalent of 81 days of gas consumption over the course of the life of this program.

Now is the time to expand this and other energy efficiency programs to serve these families. This is one of those programs that benefits not only individuals of the family by keeping them warm, by saving them money, but collectively benefits this country because one of our great problems is our accelerating demand for energy which drives up prices. If we can control that demand, if we can be more efficient in the use of energy, we can go a long way to help moderate the prices of energy that we face.

In America--one of the wealthiest nations in the world--no family should have to choose between heating their home and putting food on the table for their child. No senior citizen should have to decide to either buy lifesaving prescription drugs or pay their electric bill. But, unfortunately, our Nation's most vulnerable households--working families, seniors living on fixed incomes, and disabled individuals--have to make those very choices.

Third, we need to pass Senator Cantwell's Energy Emergency Consumer Protection Act, of which I am a cosponsor. The legislation would ban price gouging at the gas pump in the wake of natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, and would empower Federal regulators to ensure greater market transparency and go after market manipulation of oil and gas prices on an everyday basis.

The administration also must begin to rethink its bankrupt energy policies. Reliable, affordable energy is critical to the social and economic well-being of our Nation. Total energy spending for the Nation this year will approach $1 trillion, 24 percent higher than in 2004. Energy will claim the biggest share of U.S. output since the end of the oil crisis 20 years ago. This is not good energy policy.

Americans deserve a better energy bill than the one President Bush signed this summer. They deserve an energy bill that raises fuel efficiency standards and provides for oil savings, an energy bill that invests valuable tax dollars--those currently being handed out unnecessarily to oil and gas companies--into the development of renewable fuels and energy efficiency.

Oil and natural gas companies are making record profits while energy prices are overcoming workers' salary increases. These companies do not need billions of dollars from the Federal Treasury.

The American public deserves greater accountability to ensure oil companies are not engaging in anticompetitive behavior, such as closing down refining capacity to drive up prices.

Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the economic, social, and racial divides that exist in America. As a nation, we must step back and reevaluate our priorities. Now is not the time to cut funding for or underfund social programs, such as LIHEAP, Medicaid, and food stamps, that support working families and seniors while the President proposes tax breaks for casinos, as the Washington Post reported this morning. We must prioritize, and the most vulnerable amongst us must be considered first.

Hurricane Katrina upset the lives of millions, displacing families from their homes and inflicting severe economic damage. The people of the gulf region deserve our continued support as they rebuild, and as Hurricane Rita threatens the gulf coast of Texas, we must also be prepared to help those Americans affected in its wake.

We cannot, however, forget the millions of Americans who struggle each day to make ends meet. They also deserve our support. I hope the President and the Congress will heed this warning and help build an energy safety net for all Americans beginning with adequate funding for LIHEAP, increasing investment in weatherization, passing sensible legislation such as the Cantwell bill, and revisiting our overall energy policy to make a stronger, more fair, and a more decent place for all of us.

Mr. President, I yield the floor. I note the absence of a quorum.

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