Shutdown Halts $4 Billion Program Helping Low-Income Households Pay Heating Costs

“As temperatures fell below freezing in northern Maine on recent nights, Caroline McNinch kept an eye on her heating oil tank. The 93-year-old lives alone in a tiny town pressed up against the Canadian border and relies on her monthly Social Security payment and federal food benefits to make ends meet. Each winter, she also gets some help with her heating bills.

By this week, there was only a quarter-tank of fuel left. But when she called the social services agency that usually assists her, she heard something unexpected. There was no federal money to help with heating costs.

McNinch is one of millions of Americans now confronting a lesser-known consequence of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Among the funding currently on hold is a $4 billion program that helps nearly 6 million low-income households across the country with their energy bills, mostly by reducing winter heating costs.

“They gave me some last year when I was down low,” said McNinch, who had just returned from picking up some canned food, potatoes and peanut butter at a local charity. “I don’t run it any higher than I have to, but it’s cold out now.”

Normally the money for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, is released to states by the beginning of November. Now, that timetable has been replaced by a question mark.

In Maine, Monday marked the start of the period when people can typically seek emergency help. That day, Aroostook County Action Program, which administers the heating assistance in three northern counties, received more than 900 calls about fuel. “People in Maine are very resilient,” said Greta Power, a heat intake specialist. “But they’re still scared.”

The suspension of heating aid is another unprecedented aspect of the government shutdown, which has already delayed food assistance to low-income families across the country. It comes months after the Trump administration cut funding to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, as part of its signature spending bill.”

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