(Spencer)– Iowa’s Democratic Senator will keep fighting for additional money to fund the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP.
That was the message Tom Harkin delivered to staff and clients of Upper Des Moines Opportunity during a roundtable discussion Saturday evening in Spencer.
Harkin told the group he’s continuing his fight to fund LIHEAP and the Community Services Block Grant Program at funding levels above last year. The Block Grant Program, which helps pay the people who administer the LIHEAP program, was funded at roughly 646-million dollars last year. Harkin says so far this fiscal year, the Bush Administration has cut all funding for the program. Harkin says he’s deeply concerned the LIHEAP budget has been cut to funding levels seen back in 1986.
Roughly 85-thousand Iowa families qualified for LIHEAP assistance last year…and this year, the number of families is expected to go even higher with rising heating prices and colder than usual temperatures. In Clay county alone, Upper Des Moines Opportunity received 530 LIHEAP applications last year. As of last Friday, they had already received 411 for this year.
Harkin says 90 percent of those receiving LIHEAP funding work 40 hour-plus a week. He says he prays no one has to die before some in congress realize the importance of the two programs.
LIHEAP received just over 1.9 billion dollars last year, helping roughly 25 percent of eligible households. Harkin is seeking three billion dollars for this fiscal year. So far his attempt has failed three times.
(Story from Danielle Hitchings of sister station KDWD Holiday 100 in Spencer.).
Copyright GCI all rights reserved. Unauthorized publication or broadcast of this material is strictly prohibited.
