Bipartisan Congressional Bill Aims to Maintain LIHEAP Staff

Earlier this month, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) introduced legislation to fix the Trump Administration’s moves to lay off the entire federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) staff earlier this year. The Administration fired every staffer who works on the program as part of larger staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and has proposed zeroing out LIHEAP’s budget. This decision, in addition to the Administration eliminating the program entirely in the President’s FY2026 budget request, has put the program’s future in jeopardy, threatening heating and cooling assistance for millions of families.

The bipartisan legislation would establish a minimum staffing threshold to administer the program. Specifically, the bill requires HHS to have at least 20 people working on the program, 60 percent of whom cannot be contractors. Furthermore, in emergencies, 30 people would have to be employed as part of the program.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. explained during a recent hearing that the rationale for eliminating the program is that cost savings from President Trump’s energy policies will make LIHEAP redundant by lowering the cost of energy so that everybody will get lower costs and LIHEAP will not be needed.

It’s unknown whether the legislation will actually pass or if it will be attached to any larger bills. It is a good sign however, that some Republicans are pushing back against the dismantling of LIHEAP.

The text of the legislation can be found here.