Proposed cuts in energy help could have chilling effect

President Bush's veto of that SCHIP children's health insurance bill has critics complaining that poor kids are going to be left in the cold.

That charge takes on a literal interpretation now that the Bush Administration, in the wake of rising energy costs, apparently wants to cut funding to a program that helps poor families pay heating bills during emergencies.

Even in tony DuPage County, an estimated 9,500 households will need help paying their heating bills this winter. They and others throughout the suburbs could be affected in 2008.

"DuPage County has a lot of working poor and fixed-income seniors," says Brian Kuglich, the county's community services manager, who oversees the heating assistance funds through DuPage County. "Seniors will sit in 55-degree homes and pay their utilities bills and won't buy medicine or food."

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, commonly called LIHEAP, helps pay utility bills for the elderly, people with disabilities, and other households run by people who meet poverty guidelines.

The Senate wants to keep LIHEAP's budget at $2.16 billion. The House voted to raise the program's budget to $2.66 billion. But the White House wants to cut it to $1.78 billion, according to a story by Reuters. To put that another way, President Bush wants to spend about 3½ days' worth of war funding to heat our nation's poor, while the House wants LIHEAP to have the equivalent of about five days' worth of war funding.

While the budget already has been allocated for this winter, a funding cut in 2008 could hurt things in Illinois, where LIHEAP is in demand.

"We are hopeful that federal funding will not be cut. Governor (Rod) Blagojevich has called upon the Congress and the president to increase federal funding for LIHEAP so that fewer vulnerable families in Illinois will have to choose between heating their homes and putting food on their table," says Teresa Kurtenbach, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Human Services, which administers LIHEAP.

More than 70,000 households, mostly with members who are disabled or elderly, already have enrolled in the program for this winter, and more are expected when open enrollment begins on Nov. 1, Kurtenbach says.

Last winter, LIHEAP provided more than $158 million in direct client assistance to 327,000 Illinois households with state and federal funding, Kurtenbach says.

A federal funding cut "would just be disastrous to some households because the price of electricity and heat seems to go up every year," says Nancy Kane-Richards, assistant director of energy for Community Contacts, the agency that oversees LIHEAP for Kane and DeKalb counties. "It's a wonderful program."

Last year, Community Contacts used about $3.3 million in LIHEAP funds to serve 6,300 households in Kane County and 2,300 more in DeKalb County.

"We ran out of money in May, but we got some extra money for the end of the year," Kane-Richards says. "It is a first-come, first-serve program. I'd advise everyone to not wait until May to apply."

The program, founded in 1981, would need a budget of more than $4 billion just to keep pace with inflation, let alone rising energy costs.

"People are struggling more and more each year," says Kuglich in DuPage County. "Every year, I go back to the state and get more money."

Last winter DuPage County doled out more than $3.4 million to help heat about 9,200 homes, Kuglich says, adding that no needy person has been denied service.

To learn more about LIHEAP in Illinois or find out if your household qualifies, call the toll-free hotline at (800) 252-8643 or visit www.liheapillinois.com.