Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)
WASHINGTON – Chautauqua County’s representative in Congress is announcing a bill that would redistribute home energy assistance funding if approved by his colleagues in Washington.
According to Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning), his Low Income Heating Improvement Act would direct much needed home heating assistance to low-income individuals and families in the coldest states in the country. During a conference call with media, he said the bill, if approved, would restore the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to its original intent.
“It should be a program that has priority level funding in its formula for the states that face the coldest weather,” Reed said. “As the program rolled out in the 80s and expanded, the formula has adjusted to just become, in my opinion, just a general energy assistance program.”
Reed also explained that the LIHEAP formula is based on a computation of climate, household income and energy costs for low income households. He added that the formula that allows states to qualify for LIHEAP has evolved so much, that now, even states that don’t experience significant winter weather may still receive some of the funding.
“By doing that, it’s giving more priority to others areas of the country rather than really doing really what it was designed to do, and that is to assist people in cold weather states during those critical times when we’re talking about home heating not being a luxury but a necessity,” Reed said. “So you’re going down the exact path that I am concerned about. This program has expanded way beyond its original intent and that it’s now not allocating the resources to where they need to be.”
Reed said New York is now missing out on as much as $100 million dollars that it would have received had the original LIHEAP formula remained unchanged. He said he proposal would bring that money back to New York State, returning the funding to the residents who need it the most.
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