April 11, 2025

ICYMI: Warren, Sanders, 30 Senators Urge Trump to Restore Cuts to Critical Heating Assistance Program

Cuts to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program workforce threaten “health and well-being of some of the most vulnerable people in America.” 

“Being able to heat your home in the freezing cold and keep the air condition on in the extreme heat is not a luxury. It is a matter of life and death.”

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), alongside 30 Senate colleagues, sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. demanding that the administration reinstate the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) workforce. After President Donald Trump and Elon Musk arbitrarily fired every worker from the program, the senators are calling for their reinstatement so that they can continue administering LIHEAP and help working-class families with children and seniors on fixed incomes stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

“Without this bipartisan program, Americans throughout the country would be forced to make the unacceptable choice between putting food on the table, paying for prescription drugs, or heating their homes in the winter,” the senators wrote.

For almost 45 years since its bipartisan founding, LIHEAP has helped families around the nation with the costs of home energy bills, providing over 6 million American households with assistance last year. Rising energy costs have made this assistance even more important for working families, seniors, and people with disabilities. According to the Census Bureau, more than 23 percent of households report that they were unable to pay their energy bills in full last year.

“Failure to disburse these funds constitutes an illegal impoundment of bipartisan, congressionally appropriated funds and will put the health and well-being of some of the most vulnerable people in America at risk,” the senators argued.

Joining Warren on the letter are Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore).

Senator Warren has long advocated for bringing down energy costs for American families:

  • On February 26, 2025, Senator Warren advocated for S.J. Res. 10 that would end President Trump’s national energy emergency, which is driving up energy costs for New Englanders by cancelling offshore wind projects.

  • On February 20, 2025, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) proposed 16 amendments to protect Massachusetts residents from Republican budget cuts, including cuts to offshore wind.

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