Rep. Cleaver Pushes Funding to Help Missouri's Families Afford Heating Bills During Arctic Blast

Press Release

In a letter to the White House, Congressman Cleaver urged President Obama to include $4.7 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in the President's Fiscal Year 2016 budget.

"This winter, as Missourians weather low temperatures and high heating bills, LIHEAP is absolutely critical," stated Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II. "This effective and essential program helps millions of vulnerable Americans with their home heating and cooling costs. Funding for LIHEAP has fallen, and energy prices, while decreasing, are uncertain. Increased heating costs during extreme winter months place severe strains on household budgets, leading families to make trade-offs between energy, food, or medicine."

Last year, 460,000 households in Missouri were eligible for assistance, and yet only about 146,000 of the eligible families received LIHEAP assistance. In Missouri, low-income households pay an average of forty-six percent of their gross pay on housing and energy costs, and those families at fifty percent of the federal poverty line may pay up to 54% of their income just on energy.

Nearly ninety percent of LIHEAP recipient households have a senior over sixty years of age, children, or an individual with disabilities. Missourians living at 135 percent of the federal poverty line are eligible for LIHEAP assistance. For a family of three that is only $26,717 in annual income. Market expectations of oil price uncertainty have increased in recent months, with the decline in oil prices, but government projections indicate prices will rise in mid-2015.

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