Calling on the Trump Administration to reverse the mass termination of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff that manages the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which distributes $4.1 billion annually to state governments to assist low-income households in paying their utility bills, threatening the health and safety of vulnerable populations in extreme temperatures.

Calling on the Trump Administration to reverse the mass termination of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff that manages the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which distributes $4.1 billion annually to state governments to assist low-income households in paying their utility bills, threatening the health and safety of vulnerable populations in extreme temperatures. WHEREAS, On April 1st, the Trump Administration fired the entire managing staff of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), housed within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). LIHEAP provides cash and crisis grants to families with limited incomes to help pay their heating bills in the winter and cooling bills in the summer; and WHEREAS, LIHEAP was created by Congress in 1980 as part of the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act in response to the energy crisis of the 1970s. Congress decided HHS would distribute annual block grants to states, who would then distribute energy assistance to those who qualify; and WHEREAS, For fiscal year 2025, most of the congressionally-allocated $4.1 billion has been distributed, but $378 million remains unreleased and therefore in jeopardy. The terminated staff who ran the program oversaw allocating the remaining funding to state governments - without them, local operations are in jeopardy; and WHEREAS, In Pennsylvania, LIHEAP assistance is vital for over 300,000 families, especially high vulnerability populations like older adults a…