In the Wake of Recent Cold Weather, Sen. Franken Releases County-by-County Report on Heating Assistance

Press Release

In the wake of the dangerously low temperatures that hit Minnesota the first week in January, U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) today released a report on critical heating assistance that helps tens of thousands of Minnesota families and seniors afford to keep their homes warm each winter.

The senators said that federal support for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has been cut drastically over the past few years. In response, Sens. Klobuchar and Franken released a county-by-county report on LIHEAP funding in Minnesota and said they plan to redouble their efforts to increase support for the critical program, which in 2012 helped more than 160,000 Minnesota households pay to heat their homes.

The report, compiled by the Campaign for Home Energy Assistance, shows the funding levels for LIHEAP in each Minnesota county in 2012. You can see the report here or see a county-by-county breakdown below.

"The first week in January showed that cold temperatures in Minnesota aren't just uncomfortable, they can be life threatening," Klobuchar said. "No one should have to choose between putting their families at risk and putting food on the table, and LIHEAP is critical to ensuring that they can keep the heat on and their homes safe."

"Minnesotans know how to handle the cold, and they know that the best way to handle dangerously frigid temperatures-like last weeks' historic lows-is to stay inside," said Sen. Franken. "Heating assistance helps Minnesota families and seniors stay in their homes and get through the winter without having to forgo things like food or prescriptions in order to keep the heat on. There are places we can trim the budget, but one of them shouldn't be the critical heating assistance relied on by many Minnesotans, so I will continue to fight to increase LIHEAP funding."

Sens. Klobuchar and Franken have successfully fought to ensure that tens of millions of dollars in emergency LIHEAP funding have been available to Minnesota families and seniors. In December, they joined a bipartisan coalition of their colleagues and asked the President to increase annual funding for LIHEAP, which has been slashed by more than 30 percent in recent years.

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