U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), chair of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, led a bipartisan contingent of 37 of her colleagues in urging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to immediately release the roughly $400 million in remaining Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds that Congress delivered for fiscal year 2026.
During the last year, nearly six million households nationwide received assistance from LIHEAP, the federally funded program that helps low-income households pay utility bills, address energy crises, and lower costs by improving home energy efficiency through weatherization.
“As the main federal program that helps low-income households and seniors with their energy bills, LIHEAP provides critical assistance during the cold winter and hot summer months,” the senators wrote in an April 15 letter sent to OMB Director Russell Vought.
“With low-income families and seniors feeling additional strains on their household budgets, a timely release of LIHEAP funding is even more critical to ensure families do not need to choose between paying their energy bills and other essentials, like food or medicine,” they added.
In their letter, Sen. Collins and her colleagues also wrote that any delay in the release of appropriated funds would set back states’ efforts to cover outstanding bills relating to unexpected delivered fuel emergencies, to weatherize low-income homes, and to plan for summer cooling programs.
“Our states are ready to deploy these funds to help vulnerable households as soon as they receive them” from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, they wrote.