Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act - Motion to Proceed - Continued

Floor Speech

WARM IN WINTER AND COOL IN SUMMER ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued -- (Senate - July 24, 2008)

Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, all of us recognize there are very strong differences of opinion in Congress about how to resolve the major energy crisis facing working families throughout our country. I have my views on this issue, and other Members have different points of view, and that is the way it is.

I am happy to report, however, that there is an increasing unanimity of understanding around one very important fact regarding this energy crisis; that is, if we do not dramatically increase funding for the highly successful Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, usually known as LIHEAP, senior citizens on fixed incomes, the disabled, and working families with children are in serious danger of either freezing to death this coming winter or perhaps dying of heat stroke this summer because they are unable to pay their home energy bills. We cannot allow that to happen.

I am happy to announce, in a tripartisan effort, that more and more Senators understand that reality and are prepared to work together to protect our citizens. S. 3186, the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act, the LIHEAP legislation that I recently introduced, now has 53 cosponsors--53 cosponsors--38 Democrats, 13 Republicans, and 2 Independents. I thank all of those cosponsors for their support. I am absolutely confident that as soon as this bill gets on the Senate floor, not only do we have the 50 votes, I am quite confident we are going to have 60 votes and perhaps more.

I also thank majority leader Harry Reid for filing a cloture motion last night on the motion to proceed to this very important legislation. Senator Reid understands, as I think most of us do, that it is absolutely essential for the health and well-being of millions of our citizens that this bill be passed, and passed as soon as possible. My hope is that after passage in the Senate, we can get it over to the House before the August break and see it pass in that body as well. That may be overly optimistic, but that is what I would like to see.

Let me say a few words about why this bill needs to be passed.

At a time when home energy bills are soaring, this legislation would nearly double the funding for LIHEAP in fiscal year 2008, taking it from a little more than $2.5 billion to $5.1 billion--a total increase of $2.53 billion. This is, in fact, what Congress has authorized for LIHEAP.

Let me say a few words about why we need to significantly increase funding for LIHEAP.

In 2007, 5.8 million Americans--primarily senior citizens, working families with kids, and people with disabilities--utilized this program. These are the most vulnerable people in our country. Unfortunately, these 5.8 million Americans are only 16 percent--16 percent--of the people who are eligible for the program. The vast majority of the people who are eligible cannot get into the program because we lack the funds to help them. Madam President, 94 percent of the participants in the LIHEAP program were elderly, disabled, or had a child in the family under 18.

From fiscal year 2003 to fiscal year 2008, the cost of the average heating oil bill has increased by over 93 percent--almost doubled. The estimated increase in an average natural gas bill during that same period has gone up by about 50 percent. Unfortunately, LIHEAP funding has lagged far behind these outrageously high increases in energy costs. In fact, we are spending 23 percent less on LIHEAP today than we did 2 years ago, and after adjusting for inflation, we spent more on LIHEAP 20 years ago than we are spending right now.

Let's be very clear. What we are talking about now is a life-and-death situation. Many people do not understand this, but more people have died in our country from the extreme heat and extreme cold since 1998 than all natural disasters in this country combined, including floods, fires, hurricanes, and tornadoes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, over 1,000 Americans from across the country died from hypothermia in their own homes just between 1999 and 2002. Those are the latest figures we have available. In other words, they froze to death because they could not afford to adequately heat their homes. How many of these deaths were preventable? All of them were, according to the CDC. We will probably not know for several years how many Americans died last winter because they could not afford to heat their homes, but clearly one death is too many.

I understand this country is struggling with an emergency situation in terms of flooding in the Midwest and wildfires in California, but there is another emergency which must be dealt with now while we also deal with those emergencies.

At a time when the costs of home heating fuels and electricity are soaring and when the economy is in decline, millions of Americans are finding it harder and harder to stay warm in the winter or stay cool in the summer.

In my State of Vermont and throughout New England and the Northeast, people are extremely worried that they will not have enough money to afford the price of heating oil next winter. A newspaper in my State, the Stowe Reporter, recently editorialized that the lack of affordable heating oil could turn into New England's version of Hurricane Katrina next winter. We cannot allow that to happen.

I want all of my colleagues to understand that the home energy crisis that is being faced throughout the northern part of our country is something that is very imminent and is something that people are very concerned about. But this program, LIHEAP, is not just a program for cold-weather States; it is also a program for hot-weather States so that the elderly, the sick, and the frail in hot-weather States can afford to pay soaring electric bills to provide the air-conditioning they need. In other words, this program is not just a life-and-death program for the northern tier of our country; it is vitally important for the South and Southwest and for people who are struggling to pay for the skyrocketing price of electricity which has tripled in some parts of the country. What we are concerned about there is that if you are 90 years of age and you are sick and you cannot afford skyrocketing electric bills and your electricity gets turned off, you are in serious trouble.

According to the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association, a recordbreaking 15.6 million American families, or nearly 15 percent of all households, are at least 30 days overdue in paying their utility bills. This is a crisis situation and a situation in which LIHEAP can be of significant help.

To demonstrate how important LIHEAP is right now for Southern States dealing with a major heat wave, let me give you a few examples of what I am referring to. This is hard to believe, but it is true. Over the past decade, the last 10 years, more than 400 people have died of heat exposure in the State of Arizona, including 31 in July of 2005 alone. All of these deaths could have been prevented if the people affected had air-conditioning. Without increased support from the Federal Government, Arizona will be out of LIHEAP funding before the end of this month.

Let me quote from a letter I received on July 15--last week--from Phil Gordon, the mayor of Phoenix, AZ. This is what he writes:

I am writing to express my support for the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act. Currently Arizona can only provide assistance to 6 percent--

Six percent--

of eligible LIHEAP households. ..... To make matters worse, Phoenix continues to experience extreme heat. In the past month alone, we have had 15 days with temperatures at or above 110 degrees. This extreme heat is especially hard on the very young, the elderly and disabled who are on fixed incomes and can no longer afford to cool their homes. ..... Arizona Public Service--

That is the electric company there--

reported that there was a 36% increase in the number of households having difficulty in paying utility bills and an increase of 11,000 families being disconnected compared to a year ago.

Imagine not having electricity, and day after day the temperature is 110 degrees. And imagine if you are 90 years of age. Imagine if you are sick.

Rising energy and housing costs are placing enormous strains on low-income households across Arizona.

So writes Mayor Phil Gordon of Phoenix, AZ.

Madam President, it is not just Arizona. Due to a lack of LIHEAP funding, the State of Texas only provides air-conditioning assistance to about 4 percent of those who qualify.

Let me quote from a letter I received on July 15 from Shawnee Bayer from the Community Action Committee in Victoria, TX. She writes:

The temperatures in our area have been 100 to 110 degrees for 16 consecutive days. I fear it is going to be very tragic at the current pace we are going with so little LIHEAP funding available. ..... There are so many who need our assistance, like the elderly lady in her 80's who recently almost died due to kidney failure; now she doesn't want to use her air conditioner because she is afraid she won't be able to pay the bill. .....

That should not be taking place here in the United States of America. This is in Victoria, TX.

I received an e-mail from DeAndra Baker from the Community Action Agency in Giddings, TX, who writes:

We have a gentleman who is 78 years old and on a fixed income of $770.00 a month. ..... Due to the extremely high temperatures he is unable to afford to keep his home cool. His doctor provided a statement that he must have his air conditioner turned on at a minimum of 80 degrees to avoid congestive heart failure and he is not even able to afford that much. Sadly, he will not continue to run his A/C or fans and will be at serious risk unless LIHEAP funding is increased soon.

That is what is going on in the State of Texas.

Without additional support from the Federal Government, the State of Georgia will not be able to offer any LIHEAP assistance whatsoever to its residents this summer. Currently, Georgia has a waiting list of 28,000 people hoping to receive some relief from the hot weather this summer.

Let me quote from a letter I received from the executive director of the Community Action Agency in Gainesville, GA, Janice Riley. She writes:

One family that came in after we ran out of LIHEAP funds was the Jones family. ..... Mr. Jones, came to our office requesting assistance with his electric bill. He has a wife and five children. ..... They got behind with all their bills when he was injured on the job six months ago. ..... Their daughter is paralyzed from the neck down from a fall she had at six months of age. I wish we could help them. Another participant that did not receive LIHEAP funds and is now facing disconnection or homelessness is Ms. O'Brien, a 33 year old, single parent with 5 children between the ages of 7-16, and a newborn grandchild which she has taken in. ..... Her power was turned off last week because she was unable to pay it. ..... Her need for assistance is based on the high costs of living, not from her lack of work ethic and heroic efforts to maintain her household.

In addition, unless this legislation is signed into law soon, the State of Kentucky will not be able to keep any of its residents cool this summer through the LIHEAP program.

According to the executive director of the Community Action Agency in Kentucky, Kip Bowmar:

February of 2008 marked the first time in the program's history that all 120 Counties in Kentucky ran out of LIHEAP funds forcing us to close our doors as fuel prices were soaring and people needed help.

In Florida, Hilda Frazier, the State director of the LIHEAP program, has estimated they will serve 26,000 fewer households this year because of the reduction of available LIHEAP funding and the rising cost of energy.

Moving on to California, Joan Graham, the deputy director of the Community Action Agency in Sacramento, CA, recently wrote that:

Every day we are turning away at least 50 families who qualify for LIHEAP because we lack resources. Energy bills have increased 30 percent over last year, yet our funding has not increased. In 2006, there were 29 heat-related deaths in Sacramento County. One senior who passed away due to extreme heat was afraid to turn on his air-conditioner because he knew he would be unable to pay the electric bill. We know there are more like him out there at present.

Why is LIHEAP so important in the South in the summertime? From 1999 to 2003, over 3,400 deaths in this country were due to excessive heat. All of these deaths were preventable, and air-conditioning is the best way to prevent those deaths, according to CDC.

I relate the problems associated with high heat and lack of LIHEAP funding not because that is necessarily an issue in my State. In our State of Vermont, in the northern tier of this country, the fear obviously is that when winter comes and weather becomes 20 below zero, we are going to have many families who are going to go cold. Some may freeze, some may be forced to vacate their homes and move in with other relatives and friends. That is what our fear is. Again, this is not just a fear of northern States, this is a concern that impacts every State in this country, whether you are in the North or whether you are in the South. It is imperative that we move on this issue and it is imperative that we move as quickly as possible.

So once again, I am delighted that in the midst of all of the differences of opinion we are hearing on energy policy in general, there has been a coming together around the issue of LIHEAP. We now have 52 cosponsors, including 13 Republicans. When this bill comes to the floor--and it will come to the floor soon; we are going to pass it--I am quite confident we are going to get at least 60 votes, if we need that, and maybe a lot more than that. My hope is that we move it on to the House to get it passed there as soon as possible and we get this desperately needed funding out into the States. This is an issue we are making some progress on and I look forward to the support of all of my colleagues.

With that, I yield the floor.

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