Reps. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Steve King (R-Iowa) and Tim Muprhy (R-Pa.) recently sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius seeking information on how the agency oversees states administering the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
LIHEAP is intended to provide benefits to Americans most in need of energy assistance.
The letter highlights what the committee leaders said was the continued manipulation by some states of the relationship between LIHEAP and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
“Secretary Sebelius must hold states accountable when they are administering federal programs and spending federal dollars,” Lucas said. “We will continue our oversight efforts of both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and HHS to ensure that LIHEAP and SNAP are carried out as Congress intended when it wrote the law. Both agencies must ensure that their respective programs are serving their intended recipients according to the law or Congress will be forced to legislate.”
A total of 16 states and the District of Columbia allow their LIHEAP program to make small, nominal payments to households without actual utility expenses to artificially inflate benefit levels for certain SNAP households.
In response, Congress included a statutory change in the Farm Bill requiring LIHEAP payments be at least $20 before a household qualifies for a standard deduction when calculating benefits under SNAP. Several states, however, announced plans to continue to divert LIHEAP dollars away from those needing energy assistance for the sole purpose of maintaining higher SNAP benefit levels.
HHS has not made any known effort to end such practices, which are meant to circumvent congressional efforts to ensure that LIHEAP funds reach those with the greatest need for support in paying their energy bills.
“LIHEAP is a very important program to help low-income households pay their energy bills,” Upton said. “We need to make certain that LIHEAP funds aren’t being abused or diverted to other purposes.”