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Higher Energy Forecasts, Impending Presidential Veto Make Low-Income Advocates Shiver |
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From PR Newswire: Recent forecasts of higher energy prices and colder months ahead have many low-wage working families concerned about how much energy they will need to stay warm this winter. In its energy and winter fuels outlook released today, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted the average U.S. household will pay 11 percent more for heating fuels this winter than last. "It is impossible for low-wage workers, retirees and their families to pay bills this much higher without sacrificing food, medicine and other essentials," said David Bradley, executive director of National Community Action Foundation, the Washington advocate for Community Action Agencies. "Millions of Americans already living from paycheck to paycheck will require assistance to cover 11 percent increases in their energy bills." Bradley said Community Action Agencies across the country that administer the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) are reporting significant increases in energy assistance applications. Operation Threshold, which serves three counties around Waterloo, set what may be an agency record Nov. 1, distributing 651 LIHEAP applications in a single day. This week, the House and Senate are set to pass the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education appropriations conference report, which allocates 11.6 percent more for LIHEAP in 2008 than in 2007. President Bush's 2008 budget request contained a 17.5 percent cut in LIHEAP below 2007 funding levels, and Bush has vowed to veto the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. "Thirty-four million Americans are eligible for home energy assistance and in its best year LIHEAP assisted 6 million households," Bradley said.
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