Congressional Record concerning LIHEAP - 7/17/08
United States of America
PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 110th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
S6879
Vol. 154 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008 No. 118 Senate
Mr. REID.
We have a number of issues we wish to talk about for a short time this morning. First, this gas crisis is really a crisis. If someone in Las Vegas, for example, becomes concerned, as many people are, about how much it costs to drive to work every day, there are things that can be done. Maybe they can carpool, maybe there is public transportation. At least there are some alternatives. If you live in rural Nevada, the problem becomes a little more difficult, because you have to drive such long distances. But there are ways that extra travel can be avoided.
If you are a mother or father, taking children to soccer games or basketball games, there is a way you can avoid that by going with your neighbor, by working out arrangements so more than one family goes in a car. But if you are a senior citizen on a fixed income, and you see winter approaching, there are no alternatives. The alternatives are very bleak. If you cannot afford the fuel in your tank or heating oil in the Northeast, it is very difficult. You are subject to freezing
and getting sick. That is why we have to do something with LIHEAP.
I have had Democrats and I have had Republicans come to me: When are you going to do something on LIHEAP? So I have a couple of unanimous consents I am going ask on LIHEAP.
UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUESTS—S. 3186
Mr. REID.
The truth is that more people in this country have died from the extreme heat and hypothermia since 1998 than all natural disasters combined. That is an interesting point, and you probably didn’t know that. I didn’t know that. But that is the case. And that includes floods, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes. The ‘‘problem’’ is what happens when maybe an old person in Florida can’t afford electricity and has her air-conditioning turned off. She will die. Or a
person with an illness in the State of Vermont, when the weather gets 20 below zero and he doesn’t have the money to heat his home, he will die as well. And people die one at a time, not
in great CNN-type disasters, but the reality is that more people die from extreme heat and extreme cold than they do from other types of emergencies. In ermont and throughout New England, people are extremely worried that they will not have enough money to afford the price of heating oil next winter. A newspaper in my State of Vermont, the Stowe Reporter, recently editorialized that the lack of affordable heating oil could turn into New England’s version of Hurricane Katrina next winter. We cannot allow that to happen.
The problem is not just in the Northeast. The point I have to reiterate over and over, this is not just a cold weather problem for my State of Vermont and New England. This is a hot weather
problem as well. It is not just a cold weather issue, it is a hot weather issue as well.
Over the past decade, more than 400 people died of heat exposure in Arizona. Let me repeat that. Over the past decade, more than 400 people died of heat exposure in Arizona, including 31
in July of 2005 alone, 31 people in 2005 in Arizona. All of these deaths could have been prevented if these people had air-conditioning. Without increased support from the Federal Government, Arizona will be out of LIHEAP funding before the end of this month. But if this bill passes, Arizona will see an infusion of $24 million in LIHEAP funding, triple what they currently receive.
Let me quote a letter I received from the mayor of Phoenix, AZ. His name is Phil Gordon. I thank Mayor Gordon for sending me this letter. He is strongly supportive of this legislation. This is what the mayor of Phoenix, AZ, Phil Gordon, writes:
"I am writing to express my support for the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act. Currently Arizona can only provide assistance to 6 percent of eligible LIHEAP households. . . . To make matters worse, Phoenix continues to experience extreme heat. In the past month alone, we have had 15 days with temperatures at or above 110 degrees. This extreme heat is especially hard on the very young, the elderly and disabled who are on fixed incomes and can no longer afford to cool their homes. . . . Arizona Public Service reported that there was a 36 percent increase in the number of households having difficulty in paying utility bills and an increase of 11,000 families being disconnected compared to a year ago. Rising energy and housing costs are placing enormous strains on low-income households across Arizona."
What Mayor Gordon of Phoenix is talking about is taking place all over this country. We are in the middle of a recession. People are losing their work. Wages are going down. The price of fuel in general is going up. That includes electricity. If you are dependent on electricity for air-conditioning, and your electricity gets shut off and you are old and you are sick, you have a serious problem. That is what this legislation is going to address.
And, while energy prices are soaring, LIHEAP funding is 23 percent less than it was just 2 years ago, completely eviscerating the purchasing power of this extremely important program. In fact, after adjusting for inflation, the Federal Government spent more money on LIHEAP 20 years ago than it is spending today. To demonstrate how important LIHEAP is right now for southern States dealing with a major heat wave, I want to give you just a few examples of what I am referring to.
Over the past decade, more than 400 people died of heat exposure in Arizona, including 31 in July of 2005 alone. All of these deaths could have been prevented if these people had air conditioning.
Due to a lack of LIHEAP funding, the State of Texas only provides air conditioning assistance to about 4 percent of those who qualify. But it is not just Texas.
Without additional support from the Federal Government, the State of Georgia will not be able to offer any LIHEAP assistance whatsoever to its residents this summer. Currently, Georgia has a waiting list of 28,000 people hoping to receive some relief from the hot weather this summer.
To demonstrate the desperate need for more LIHEAP funding, let me tell you about an e-mail my office received from the executive director of the Community Action Agency in Gainesville, GA, Janice Riley. According to Ms. Riley, their agency has been out of LIHEAP funding since last December. She was particularly distressed about two families in Georgia who she could not help because of a lack of LIHEAP funding.
This is what she had to say:
"One family that came in after we ran out of LIHEAP funds was the Jones family. . . .Mr. Jones, came to our office requesting assistance with his electric bill. He has a wife and five children. . . . They got behind with all their bills when he was injured on the job six months ago. . . . Their daughter is paralyzed from the neck down from a fall she had at six months of age. I wish we could help them. Another participant that did not receive LIHEAP funds and is now facing disconnection or homelessness is Ms. O’Brien, a 33 year old, single parent with 5 children between the ages of 7–16, and a newborn grandchild which she has taken in. . . . Her power was turned off last week because she was unable to pay it. . . . Her need for assistance is based on the high costs of living, not from her lack of work ethic and heroic efforts to maintain her household. That is what is going on in the State of Georgia. If this bill is signed into law, the State of Georgia would receive over $70 million to make sure their residents stay cool this summer."
Thousands of families in Florida are being turned away from LIHEAP offices each and every month because they do not have any money. Of the 2 million LIHEAP eligible households in Florida, they will be able to assist fewer than 4 percent of them.
In other words, while more people in this country are dying from heat exposure than any other natural disaster in this country combined; the Federal Government spends less money preventing these deaths from occurring than any other natural disaster we face.
From 1999–2003, over 3,400 deaths in this country were due to excessive heat. All of these deaths were preventable and air conditioning is the best way to prevent these deaths, according
to the CDC. How many more heat-related deaths will occur in this country if we do not increase LIHEAP? We cannot wait to find out. For all of these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act. We need to move quickly to significantly expand LIHEAP funding. By expanding it, by doubling it, we are doing nothing more than keeping pace with inflation because the price of home heating fuel in my State has doubled so all we are
doing is keeping even. I hope we will come together as a body—progressives conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, Independents— and pass this legislation quickly.
PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 110th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
S6879
Vol. 154 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008 No. 118 Senate
Mr. REID.
We have a number of issues we wish to talk about for a short time this morning. First, this gas crisis is really a crisis. If someone in Las Vegas, for example, becomes concerned, as many people are, about how much it costs to drive to work every day, there are things that can be done. Maybe they can carpool, maybe there is public transportation. At least there are some alternatives. If you live in rural Nevada, the problem becomes a little more difficult, because you have to drive such long distances. But there are ways that extra travel can be avoided.
If you are a mother or father, taking children to soccer games or basketball games, there is a way you can avoid that by going with your neighbor, by working out arrangements so more than one family goes in a car. But if you are a senior citizen on a fixed income, and you see winter approaching, there are no alternatives. The alternatives are very bleak. If you cannot afford the fuel in your tank or heating oil in the Northeast, it is very difficult. You are subject to freezing
and getting sick. That is why we have to do something with LIHEAP.
I have had Democrats and I have had Republicans come to me: When are you going to do something on LIHEAP? So I have a couple of unanimous consents I am going ask on LIHEAP.
UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUESTS—S. 3186
Mr. REID.
The truth is that more people in this country have died from the extreme heat and hypothermia since 1998 than all natural disasters combined. That is an interesting point, and you probably didn’t know that. I didn’t know that. But that is the case. And that includes floods, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes. The ‘‘problem’’ is what happens when maybe an old person in Florida can’t afford electricity and has her air-conditioning turned off. She will die. Or a
person with an illness in the State of Vermont, when the weather gets 20 below zero and he doesn’t have the money to heat his home, he will die as well. And people die one at a time, not
in great CNN-type disasters, but the reality is that more people die from extreme heat and extreme cold than they do from other types of emergencies. In ermont and throughout New England, people are extremely worried that they will not have enough money to afford the price of heating oil next winter. A newspaper in my State of Vermont, the Stowe Reporter, recently editorialized that the lack of affordable heating oil could turn into New England’s version of Hurricane Katrina next winter. We cannot allow that to happen.
The problem is not just in the Northeast. The point I have to reiterate over and over, this is not just a cold weather problem for my State of Vermont and New England. This is a hot weather
problem as well. It is not just a cold weather issue, it is a hot weather issue as well.
Over the past decade, more than 400 people died of heat exposure in Arizona. Let me repeat that. Over the past decade, more than 400 people died of heat exposure in Arizona, including 31
in July of 2005 alone, 31 people in 2005 in Arizona. All of these deaths could have been prevented if these people had air-conditioning. Without increased support from the Federal Government, Arizona will be out of LIHEAP funding before the end of this month. But if this bill passes, Arizona will see an infusion of $24 million in LIHEAP funding, triple what they currently receive.
Let me quote a letter I received from the mayor of Phoenix, AZ. His name is Phil Gordon. I thank Mayor Gordon for sending me this letter. He is strongly supportive of this legislation. This is what the mayor of Phoenix, AZ, Phil Gordon, writes:
"I am writing to express my support for the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act. Currently Arizona can only provide assistance to 6 percent of eligible LIHEAP households. . . . To make matters worse, Phoenix continues to experience extreme heat. In the past month alone, we have had 15 days with temperatures at or above 110 degrees. This extreme heat is especially hard on the very young, the elderly and disabled who are on fixed incomes and can no longer afford to cool their homes. . . . Arizona Public Service reported that there was a 36 percent increase in the number of households having difficulty in paying utility bills and an increase of 11,000 families being disconnected compared to a year ago. Rising energy and housing costs are placing enormous strains on low-income households across Arizona."
What Mayor Gordon of Phoenix is talking about is taking place all over this country. We are in the middle of a recession. People are losing their work. Wages are going down. The price of fuel in general is going up. That includes electricity. If you are dependent on electricity for air-conditioning, and your electricity gets shut off and you are old and you are sick, you have a serious problem. That is what this legislation is going to address.
And, while energy prices are soaring, LIHEAP funding is 23 percent less than it was just 2 years ago, completely eviscerating the purchasing power of this extremely important program. In fact, after adjusting for inflation, the Federal Government spent more money on LIHEAP 20 years ago than it is spending today. To demonstrate how important LIHEAP is right now for southern States dealing with a major heat wave, I want to give you just a few examples of what I am referring to.
Over the past decade, more than 400 people died of heat exposure in Arizona, including 31 in July of 2005 alone. All of these deaths could have been prevented if these people had air conditioning.
Due to a lack of LIHEAP funding, the State of Texas only provides air conditioning assistance to about 4 percent of those who qualify. But it is not just Texas.
Without additional support from the Federal Government, the State of Georgia will not be able to offer any LIHEAP assistance whatsoever to its residents this summer. Currently, Georgia has a waiting list of 28,000 people hoping to receive some relief from the hot weather this summer.
To demonstrate the desperate need for more LIHEAP funding, let me tell you about an e-mail my office received from the executive director of the Community Action Agency in Gainesville, GA, Janice Riley. According to Ms. Riley, their agency has been out of LIHEAP funding since last December. She was particularly distressed about two families in Georgia who she could not help because of a lack of LIHEAP funding.
This is what she had to say:
"One family that came in after we ran out of LIHEAP funds was the Jones family. . . .Mr. Jones, came to our office requesting assistance with his electric bill. He has a wife and five children. . . . They got behind with all their bills when he was injured on the job six months ago. . . . Their daughter is paralyzed from the neck down from a fall she had at six months of age. I wish we could help them. Another participant that did not receive LIHEAP funds and is now facing disconnection or homelessness is Ms. O’Brien, a 33 year old, single parent with 5 children between the ages of 7–16, and a newborn grandchild which she has taken in. . . . Her power was turned off last week because she was unable to pay it. . . . Her need for assistance is based on the high costs of living, not from her lack of work ethic and heroic efforts to maintain her household. That is what is going on in the State of Georgia. If this bill is signed into law, the State of Georgia would receive over $70 million to make sure their residents stay cool this summer."
Thousands of families in Florida are being turned away from LIHEAP offices each and every month because they do not have any money. Of the 2 million LIHEAP eligible households in Florida, they will be able to assist fewer than 4 percent of them.
In other words, while more people in this country are dying from heat exposure than any other natural disaster in this country combined; the Federal Government spends less money preventing these deaths from occurring than any other natural disaster we face.
From 1999–2003, over 3,400 deaths in this country were due to excessive heat. All of these deaths were preventable and air conditioning is the best way to prevent these deaths, according
to the CDC. How many more heat-related deaths will occur in this country if we do not increase LIHEAP? We cannot wait to find out. For all of these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support the Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act. We need to move quickly to significantly expand LIHEAP funding. By expanding it, by doubling it, we are doing nothing more than keeping pace with inflation because the price of home heating fuel in my State has doubled so all we are
doing is keeping even. I hope we will come together as a body—progressives conservatives, Republicans, Democrats, Independents— and pass this legislation quickly.
posted by Ninth District Opportunity, Inc. at 6:29 AM
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