Source: United States Senator for Massachusetts Ed Markey
Historic LIHEAP funding coming to Commonwealth through American Rescue Plan
Washington (January 10, 2021) – Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) today announced that Massachusetts will receive a record $307.5 million for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for the 2022 fiscal year. The Biden administration reported that in addition to an annual appropriation of $120.5 million for Massachusetts, the state received an additional $187.1 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan – more than double the state’s typical annual funding for the energy assistance program. LIHEAP is the main federal program that helps low-income households and seniors with their energy bills, providing critical assistance during the cold winter and hot summer months.
“This historic amount of funding to help households cover home energy costs in Massachusetts means no family or senior has to go cold this winter,” said Senators Markey and Warren. “Thousands of additional Massachusetts residents will qualify for vital fuel assistance, and we will once again ensure that our most vulnerable residents are taken care of – especially in the midst of this pandemic. But as climate change makes seasons more extreme and supply chain disruptions continue to exacerbate energy burdens for families, LIHEAP funding must be allocated to not only give families the annual subsidies they need, but also to provide support for weatherization, which will help them reduce their energy burdens over time. We thank the Biden administration for its efforts to distribute this funding and look forward to continuing to expand this home energy assistance program.”
As a part of the American Rescue Plan, Senators Markey and Warren advocated for $20 billion in funding for Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) and $4.5 billion in additional funding to LIHEAP.
On Wednesday, Senator Markey, Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) led a bicameral letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) urging the agency to use its authority to protect consumers from unfairly high energy costs.
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