Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations ACt, 2006--Continued

Floor Speech

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006--Continued -- (Senate - October 25, 2005)

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, last week Senator Collins and I came to the floor to offer an amendment on the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill to increase funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, more commonly known as LIHEAP. We would have increased the appropriations to the authorized amount of $5.1 billion. With Senator Collins' support, and with the help of 53 other Senators, we came forward to make a statement that in this cold winter that is approaching, with soaring energy prices, Americans needed help and we could do better. Fifty-three Senators, Democrats and Republicans, northerners and southerners, east coasters and west coasters supported our amendment when it came to a vote. But it failed to pass because of a procedural need to acquire 60 votes. We, joined by 30 of our colleagues, are here again today to offer our amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill.

Our amendment provides $2.92 billion in emergency spending for the LIHEAP program. This amount, coupled with the $2.18 billion in the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, will fully fund LIHEAP at the authorized level of $5.1 billion, a level authorized by this Congress and signed into law by the President just 3 months ago. At this level, LIHEAP will cover the full increase in recipients' heating costs so they would not be forced to pay more out of their very limited budgets for this winter's heating season. It is imperative that this appropriations bill provide additional resources to the LIHEAP program so families are safe and warm this winter.

As we speak, there is a storm raging in the Northeast in New England. We expect in some parts of the region to have snow this evening. Winter is coming. It is coming with a particular ferocity at this moment. But something else is already happening: Rising energy prices, extraordinary increases in energy prices, much of it as a result of Hurricane Katrina that struck the gulf coast area. As I have said before, the first surge was high water that overwhelmed low-income people in New Orleans and Mississippi and Alabama and other cities along the gulf coast. The second surge is high energy prices which are about to overwhelm many individuals in the Northeast and the Midwest and throughout this country where the temperatures begin to fall as they do this time of year. We have to do more to protect these people because we know it is coming.

One of the lessons from Katrina is that we understand that there are people who are vulnerable, and they have to be protected before the storm hits, not afterwards. This is an opportunity to do that for people throughout this country who are vulnerable this winter to rising energy prices and falling temperatures.

I particularly thank Senators Specter and Harkin for their strong support of the LIHEAP program. I realize the difficult choices they faced this year in determining spending limits for the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. I appreciate their support for this amendment to add emergency spending for LIHEAP.

On Saturday, the New York Times printed an editorial titled ``Washington's Cold Shoulder.'' I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the editorial be printed in the RECORD.

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Mr. REED. The editorial says that our congressional priorities are skewed, and I agree. As the editorial points out, Members of Congress are continuing an unrelenting drive to pass $70 billion in new cuts this fall in taxes, most of them for wealthy investors, and to cut $35 billion in spending, mostly in programs that benefit the poor. The vulnerable people need to keep the heat on to keep from getting sick, becoming homeless, or worse.

Because of our budget rules, we are prevented from getting a straight up-or-down majority vote on our amendment to provide assistance to seniors, low-income working families, and disabled individuals. This amendment will ensure that they will be protected from the ravages of the cold this winter: aid that will ensure children will not become ill or malnourished, aid that will ensure families do not resort to hazardous means of heating that can cause fires. Unfortunately and regrettably, every heating season there is a terrible incident where some poor person decides their stove can provide them some heat, and they leave it on, causing a fire with tragic consequences. I hope that will not be the case this year. If we don't provide support for these families, they have very little choice in many cases, other than to improvised heat, and that often leads to tragedy.

As the New York Times editorial states: Heating aid for the needy is a matter of common decency. Is our memory so short that we have forgotten the pledge we made to low-income families after Hurricane Katrina to address the economic disparity in our Nation that literally leaves many out in the cold or in the dark?

Rising energy prices could financially wipe out working-class families and seniors this winter. Energy costs for the average family using heating oil are estimated to hit $1,600 this winter, an increase of $380 over last winter's heating season. For families using natural gas, prices could hit about $1,400, an increase of $500. For families using propane, prices are projected to hit $1,400, an increase of about $325. For families living in poverty, energy bills are now over 20 percent of their income compared to 5 percent of the income of other households, more affluent households.

In America, no one should be forced to choose between heating or eating. No senior citizen should be forced to choose between buying necessary pharmaceuticals and keeping the heat up. But unfortunately, low-income working Americans are facing these decisions each day, and they will become more dire and more consequential as the winter approaches.

The heat-or-eat dilemma is a real one for poor families. A study by the RAND Corporation found that low-income households reduce food expenditures by roughly the same amount as their increase in heating expenditures. That is an awful tradeoff, one that I don't think any American would like to see take place.

The Social Security Administration recently announced its cost-of-living adjustment for 2006 for seniors. The COLA is about a $65-per-month increase for the average retired couple. But with this winter's energy prices, that increase will be wiped out in an instant. So we have to do better. Even at a funding level of $5.1 billion, LIHEAP would still only serve about one-seventh of the 35 million households that are poor enough to qualify for assistance. So we are just talking about serving the very neediest in our community. This is a program that, frankly, could use many more dollars to serve every qualified individual. We are just reaching the neediest among us. If we don't pass this appropriations, we won't even reach those individuals.

I urge all my colleagues to join us to secure $2.9 billion in additional LIHEAP funding and pass this amendment. I urge an up-or-down vote on the amendment. As a nation, we must step back and evaluate our priorities. American families are facing an energy emergency. If we can find money for tax cuts, then we can find funds for LIHEAP. Now is not the time to sacrifice the health and safety of American families. We must prioritize, and the priorities start with providing affordable energy to low-income and middle-class Americans as they struggle with extraordinary increases in prices and the looming cold of this winter.

I am pleased and proud to be joined in this effort by my colleague from Maine, Senator Collins.

I yield the floor.

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