Letter to Members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation - Urge for Congressional Delegation to Support Additional LIHEAP Funding

Letter

Dear Member of the Illinois Congressional Delegation:

Working families throughout the United States are struggling to make ends meet as prices for necessities such as food, mortgages and gasoline continue to skyrocket. In difficult economic times, more families will seek out assistance in paying their utility bills. If we are to help more working families, seniors and others stay safe and healthy as temperatures fluctuate year-round, it is vital that the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) receives additional funding.

Two weeks ago, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services began accepting applications for energy assistance as part of the Keep Cool Illinois 2008 campaign. Through various improvements in the program's operations, the Department was able to handle a record high 11,600 applications in a single day of the summer program's first week. Since the July 7 launch of the summer energy assistance program, approximately 50,000 applications have been processed. So many households have applied in Cook County alone that the approximately $3 million allocated for Cook County was exhausted in less than one week. This is a trend that could continue well into winter as heating costs skyrocket.

As the current economic recession continues into the following months, more families, seniors and people with disabilities will need assistance with home energy costs. During Fiscal Year 2008, we were able to help 319,836 households with their winter heating costs. If the recent record increase we have seen in summer assistance applications is any indicator, we could see a significant increase in applications for winter assistance.

That is why it is so important that lawmakers in Washington work together to increase funding to the LIHEAP block grant program so that more families throughout the country are able to receive the energy assistance that will keep them safe and healthy during the extreme heat of summer and the extreme cold of winter. An increase of at least $2.5 billion in federal funding for LIHEAP could mean that Illinois would receive a significant increase in allocations for households in need of energy assistance.

I urge you to work with your colleagues in Congress to support increased funding for LIHEAP so that we are able to provide assistance to even more Illinois households. Working together, we can make sure that Illinois families do not need to choose between heating or air conditioning and food. We can keep Illinoisans healthy and safe regardless of the weather. I look forward to talking with you further about how increased LIHEAP funding will benefit the people of Illinois.

Sincerely,

Rod R. Blagojevich
Governor

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