President Donald Trump’s (R) administration wants to eliminate the program that administers more than $4 billion nationally to pay for heating and cooling the homes of low-income residents.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) supports around 100,000 Connecticut families.
In April, the Trump administration laid off all the staff responsible for administering it. His 2026 budget plan does not include money for the program.
According to U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), Connecticut received $78 million from LIHEAP this year.
“Nationally, this program mainly serves folks who just can't afford to heat their home, but [also] have somebody in their home who would be in real trouble if that heat stayed off for a series of days,” Murphy said.
The Trump administration’s budget document claims the program is unnecessary because many states have laws that prevent utility companies from disconnecting low-income residents. Connecticut is one such state. However, the money has to be paid back eventually. If it’s not paid back by the consumer, it gets pushed to other customers through the controversial public benefits charge.
“LIHEAP is unnecessary because states have policies preventing utility disconnection for low-income households, effectively making LIHEAP a pass-through benefitting utilities in the Northeast,” the document reads.
It also cites a report that found abuse of the program, but the research is more than a dozen years old, and changes have been implemented to curb it.
Some congressional Republicans have said the proposed cuts won’t make it to the final budget bill.
