Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments of 2007 -- Resumed

Floor Speech

INDIAN HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENT ACT AMENDMENTS OF 2007--Resumed -- (Senate - February 13, 2008)

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Mr. SANDERS. I commend subcommittee chairman Senator Harkin, subcommittee ranking member Senator Specter, Appropriations chairman Senator Byrd, and ranking member Senator Cochran for providing a total of about $2.6 billion in funding for LIHEAP in the Omnibus appropriations bill. Their job was a difficult one. There was not enough money available to do all that needed to be done, but they did their best for LIHEAP and for our critical needs.

Unfortunately, this $2.6 billion in funding for LIHEAP, while an 18-percent increase from last year, is still 23 percent below what was provided for LIHEAP just 2 years ago. That 23 percent reduction is not even adjusting for inflation. We are talking here about nominal dollars.

Two years ago, the price of heating oil was less than $2.50 a gallon; today, it is over $3.30 a gallon. In central Vermont, we have seen prices as high as $3.73 a gallon this winter for heating oil.

According to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, due to insufficient funding, the average LIHEAP grant only pays for 18 percent of the total cost of heating a home with heating oil this winter, 21 percent of residential propane costs, 41 percent of natural gas costs, and 43 percent of electricity costs. What this means, in plain English, is that low-income families with children, senior citizens on

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fixed incomes, and people with disabilities will have to make up the remaining cost out of their own pockets. The problem is that millions of those people simply do not have the money to make up the difference.

In addition, only 16 percent of eligible LIHEAP recipients currently receive assistance with their home heating bills, and 84 percent of eligible low-income families with children, seniors on fixed incomes, and people with disabilities do not receive any LIHEAP assistance whatsoever due to a lack of funding.

In my State of Vermont, it has been reported that outrageously high home heating costs are pushing families into homelessness. In fact, it is not uncommon for families with two working parents to receive help from homeless shelters in the State of Vermont because they cannot find anyplace else to live in winter.

But this is a national energy emergency certainly well beyond Vermont and well beyond the Northeast. On January 17, 1 day after the President released $450 million in emergency LIHEAP funding, the National Energy Assistance Directors Association testified in front of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee field hearing chaired by Senator Kennedy. Here is what the national energy directors reported on just a few of the States:

In Arkansas, the number of families receiving LIHEAP assistance is expected to be reduced by up to 20 percent from last year unless we get more funding.

The State of Arizona estimates they will have to cut the number of families receiving LIHEAP assistance by 10,000 as compared to last year.

In Delaware, the number of families receiving LIHEAP assistance will be reduced by up to 20 percent.

In Iowa, regular LIHEAP grants have been cut by 7 percent from last year.

In Maine, the average LIHEAP grant will only pay for about 2 to 3 weeks of home heating costs in most homes in that State.

The State of Kentucky could run out of LIHEAP funds in the near future.

In Massachusetts, the spike in energy costs means that the purchasing cost for LIHEAP has declined by 39 percent since 2006.

The State of Minnesota could run out of LIHEAP funding as well.

On and on it goes. In New York State, in Ohio, in Rhode Island, in Texas, in Washington, in State after State the simple arithmetic works out that if the cost of heating fuel is soaring, in order to provide the same benefits to the same number of people, we need to significantly increase our funding for LIHEAP, and we are not doing that. That is what this amendment is about.

There is a lot of discussion on this floor about emergencies. This is an emergency. There is a lot of discussion on this floor about moral values. This is a moral issue. In the United States of America, the wealthiest Nation in the history of the world, millions of senior citizens and low-income parents with kids should not be forced to worry about whether their homes will be warm this winter. People should not have to make the choice between keeping warm or paying for other basic necessities of life. This is an emergency situation. This is a moral situation.

I wish to thank all of the cosponsors who have come on board this legislation. I ask my colleagues to strongly support this amendment.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

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