Warren, Markey call for more heat aid
By Steven H. Foskett Jr. TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
sfoskett@telegram.com
U.S. Sens. Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren have called on the Obama administration to immediately distribute remaining low-income heating assistance funds in light of harsh weather and tough economic conditions.
The senators, both D-Mass., sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius arguing that the passage of the 2014 appropriations bill allowed the department to immediately distribute nearly $490 million remaining in the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
According to the letter signed by the senators, the Energy Information Administration projected average winter home heating costs for families in the Northeast would rise this winter for most fuels: 17 percent for natural gas, 9 percent for propane, and 5 percent for electricity.
However, prices have increased far more than forecast.
According to the letter, residential heating oil prices in Massachusetts have increased nearly 25 cents a gallon since the end of October, and residential propane prices have risen 45 cents per gallon, or 15 percent, during that same time.
Good for Sen. Markey and Sen. Warren. It makes absolutely no sense for the government to be sitting on $490 million that is for the use of low income home owners, when these people need to heat their homes now, not in July. It seems no matter where people turn the cost of heating their homes has reached a new high. I do believe that the economy will not get any better until the cost of oil and gasoline comes down. Too much of a persons income goes into these costs, leaving very little left for anything else. Bev.
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