U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks on House Republican debt ceiling plan (April 26, 2023)

House Republicans passed a debt ceiling hike Wednesday.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy pushed his package to raise the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion through the House in a close vote. But the White House continues to say that it will not negotiate on the issue.

The federal government could default as soon as early June.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted the House’s Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, calling it a “gut punch” and a “Default On America,” “This plan means fewer jobs, higher costs for the American people, particularly average middle class people, would leave police, first responders, border patrol, and our brave veterans all hanging out to dry. There are dramatic slashes with each of those very necessary functions.”

Schumer said a clean debt ceiling had been passed before in a bipartisan manner twice under President Trump and once under President Obama.

Congressman Nick Langworthy issued a statement on the plan, saying, “Today, I was proud to vote for the Limit Save Grow Act that is the first step to breaking Washington’s addiction to spending and getting our nation’s finances back on track. This plan is a responsible, reasonable framework for spending reforms that the American people are demanding. It’s time for President Biden to stop the games and come to the table to negotiate.”

Schumer said the cuts in the House’s plan are not abstract including the possibility that 2 million New York residents could lose Medicaid coverage, “It slashes federal heating assistance, LIHEAP, that upstate families and seniors use to stay safe. We lose close to a billion dollars in LIHEAP and would reduce the average benefit a household would receive by $400. New York does better with LIHEAP than any other state and it would hurt us dramatically.”

Schumer said there could be a $144 million cut in SNAP benefits for New Yorkers which would affect 53,000 residents in the state.

Moody’s analytics warned that “dramatic” cuts to government spending in the House Republican’s plan would spark a 2024 recession that costs the economy 2.6 million jobs and lifts the unemployment rate near 6%.

A nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis released Tuesday showed the Republican plan would reduce federal deficits by $4.8 trillion over the decade if the proposed changes were enacted into law.

On Wednesday U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced the release of $343 million in heating and home energy assistance funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The two Senators had joined a bipartisan group of 46 Senators in urging HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell to release Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding as quickly as possible, to ensure more families can access the resources they need to heat their homes this winter.

According to Schumer and Gillibrand, without these federal resources, households nationwide may have been subject to cuts in federal heating aid during this year’s winter months.

New York State has received over $300 million in LIHEAP funding each fiscal year for the last seven years.

In order to qualify for this benefit program, you must be a resident of the state of New York and you must need financial assistance for home energy costs.

For more infomation, visit the LIHEAP website.

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.