Dear Chairman Cole, Chairman Aderholt, and Ranking Member DeLauro:
We write with serious concern regarding the proposed elimination of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget. Nearly six million low-income households rely on this program to heat and cool their homes. At a time when energy and gas prices are skyrocketing, and total utility debt has climbed to its highest since 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, to propose this elimination is unfathomable. We urge you to reject this program’s elimination, and fund LIHEAP at the highest level possible for FY 2027.
Energy prices are skyrocketing, with nearly two-thirds of households reporting an increase in monthly energy bills compared to the same months last year. Electricity prices are climbing at a rate more than twice inflation, increasing by as much as 13 percent since the start of 2025. As a result, more than 80 million Americans are struggling to pay their energy bills, and one in five households report forgoing basic necessities like food and medicine to pay an energy bill. Even if households are able to pay their energy bill, 11 percent of households report keeping their home at an unhealthy or unsafe temperature.
Families need support now more than ever to afford the most basic household goods as rising energy costs and gasoline, food, and heating oil prices surge due to tariffs and President Trump’s war of choice in Iran. Eliminating LIHEAP will further exacerbate the energy affordability crisis and the nearly impossible choices households face every day due to rising costs.
We thank the committee for rejecting President Trump’s budget proposal to eliminate LIHEAP over five different fiscal years. We urge the committee to again reject this proposal and instead fund LIHEAP to the highest amount possible for Fiscal Year 2027. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Editor's Note: The above letter was penned by U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez and 73 other members of Congress. It was sent to U.S. Reps. Tom Cole, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Robert Aderholt, chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, and Rosa DeLauro, ranking member of the House Committee on Appropriations.
Here are the signatures:
