Pingree Joins Bipartisan Call to Increase Home Heating Assistance Funding

Today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and a bipartisan group of 73 members called on the House Appropriations Committee to provide an additional $3 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27). In the letter, led by New Hampshire Congressman Chris Pappas, the members wrote, “As the war with Iran remains unresolved, energy prices are expected to keep rising, with heating oil up 60% since February. LIHEAP’s $4 billion in funding for the last fiscal year would fall significantly short in meeting the needs of American families this fiscal year.” “LIHEAP is a critical lifeline for low- and moderate-income individuals, but even if your household qualifies, LIHEAP does not provide guaranteed security. Five out of six families who qualify for LIHEAP receive no financial assistance due to the program’s woefully underfunded status. When adjusting for inflation, LIHEAP funding is lower now than it was in 1981 when the program was first created. If LIHEAP was funded at the same level as it was 45 years ago, the program would have received nearly $7 billion in FY27,” they continued. “Emergency LIHEAP assistance is urgently needed as winter weather approaches and colder temperatures have already begun. Families should not have to choose between staying warm and purchasing other essential items like food, medication, or rent. Congress must act and not leave families in the cold,” they concluded. LIHEAP helps low-income individuals and families pay for heating and cooling and mitigates the impacts of rising energy costs and extreme weather events. Across the nation, LIHEAP helps nearly 6 million households afford their energy bills,including more than 45,000 households in Maine, but Secretary Kennedy’s decision last year to fire all LIHEAP staff last year and President Trump’s repeated demand to cut all funding for the program has put this assistance at risk. In response, Pingree and 89 of her Congressional colleagues in called for the protection of LIHEAP and the rehiring of all HHS staff who manage the LIHEAP program that were fired in April 2025. Last week, Pingree and a group of 24 Members of Congress representing Northeastern states pressed the Department of Energy (DOE) to take immediate action to address the rapidly rising cost of heating oil, which has surged around 60 percent since the start of President Trump’s war in Iran. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has pushed crude oil from $72 to over $100 a barrel, causing a massive increase in heating oil costs in the United States. American families that rely on heating oil are projected to pay about $600 more to keep their homes warm this winter than last year. In Maine, which uses more residential heating oil per capita than any other U.S. state, the statewide average price of heating oil recently hit a record $6.02 a gallon—marking an 80% increase over last year. Pingree is a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee and has long fought to protect and fully fund LIHEAP. Read the full letter here. ###