U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown...
Help for Seniors and Families with Energy Costs  
December 22, 2011 

A dangerous plan to redirect energy assistance funds from Ohio to warmer-weather states was averted. Ohio is set to receive home heating assistance funds during Fiscal Year 2012—more than $8 million more than it would have received under a House of Representatives plan that made allocation changes that would have resulted in Ohio and other colder-weather states, like Michigan and Wisconsin, receiving a smaller fraction of the funds than they typically receive. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown announced this week that the federal resources are on the way. 

“Winters in Ohio are bitterly cold—and during these most frigid months, we must ensure that our seniors are able to keep the heat turned on,” Sen. Brown said. “No Ohioan should have to choose between filling a prescription, putting dinner on the table, or keeping warm—and that’s where LIHEAP helps fill the gap. Last year, hundreds of thousands of Ohioans relied on home heating assistance funds to keep the thermostat turned on, and the budget agreement for 2012 ensures that Ohio receives a fair share of the available LIHEAP funding.” 

According to the HHS, the mission of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is to assist low income households, particularly those with the lowest incomes that pay a high proportion of household income for home energy, primarily in meeting their immediate home energy needs. In November, Sen. Brown released a county-by-county report on the more than 426,400 Ohio households that received home heating assistance through LIHEAP in 2010. In October, he led 33 senators in a bipartisan letter to the Obama Administration urging the speedy deployment of LIHEAP resources.