Lawmakers are signaling they’ll reject a Trump administration request to eliminate funding for a program that provides heating and cooling assistance to low-income Americans, one of the few on-topic issues repeatedly raised during hearings on the Health and Human Services Department budget.
The administration’s fiscal 2027 budget request for the HHS proposed zeroing out the $4 billion funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program received in the current fiscal year. The White House argues the program is unnecessary because many states have policies preventing utility disconnection for low-income households, characterizing the program “a pass-through benefiting utility companies” with a history of integrity concerns — something that lawmakers and advocates dispute.
During HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s budget hearings over the past week, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and in both chambers, chastised the administration for again proposing cuts.
