The Trump administration has released the entire employee of a $ 4.1-billion program, the millions of households with low incomes in winter for heat and state officials who are now wondering whether they will still receive millions of dollars in the expected federal payments.
According to Mark Wolfe, Executive Director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, the approximately two dozen workers who led the program for energy aid measures with low incomes as part of a dramatic restructuring of the Ministry of Health and Human Services.
He said that several high -ranking employees who have the program, which serves around 6.2 million households annually, to monitor the program, told him that they were locked out of their building after working on Monday.
“As they did, there was no warning,” he said.
On Thursday, 13 US senators, including two Republicans, sent a letter to Health Minister Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in which the administration was asked to reverse their decision to shorten the LIHAP employees. They warned that the dismissals undermined the agency’s ability to provide a “decisive lifeline” for seniors and families with low incomes.
The program had already delivered most of its aid for this financial year to the States, but still had to distribute 378 million US dollars.
It also helps the households to pay the costs for air conditioning during the enthusiastic summer months.
When asked about the fate of LIHEAP and the outstanding payments, Emily Hilliard, deputy press spokeswoman for HHS, said in a statement: “HHS will continue to meet the legal requirements and be better positioned as a result of the restructuring in order to carry out the legal intention of the congress.”
Kennedy spoke about the broader revision of his agency and said that she had to be “newly calibrated”.
Without employees, the states question how and whether they get the rest of their money, especially for upcoming summer cooling programs.
“Will we get our remaining means? If we don’t, some states will not carry out their cooling programs this summer. They will scaled them back,” said Wolfe.
State officials who are involved in the distribution of aid said they were concerned that Lihap will collapse without the support of the federal government.
“E -mails are recovering from people with whom we have worked for many years and who deeply know the program,” said Peter Hadler, deputy director of the Department of Social Services in Connecticut and found that his state is still $ 8 million.
In Minnesota, where the northern part of the state received a foot snow on Wednesday, the state’s Ministry of Commerce predicted that it had no money in mid -April to aid up-to-date applicants seek aid with heating and electricity invoices.
The state had expected additional federal financing of 12 to 13 million US dollars that have already been approved by the congress. These funds would aid more than 10,000 households to pay their supply calculations and prevent electricity degrees. Around 130,000 households in Minnesota receive liheap every year.
“Winter still takes place in Minnesota. It snowed yesterday,” said Pete Wyckoff, deputy energy -resource commissioner at the department. “We need this additional money to get through the rest of the winter season.”
The authorization can differ depending on the state and the specific services. In general, the program supports families in covering electricity bills or the costs for the payment of heating oil. Contracelely congress support has been received for decades.
Sensan Susan Collins from Maine and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska were the two Republicans who voted for the letter in which Kennedy would reverse all personnel or financing cuts that would endanger the program.
