Energy & Environment

Energy & Environment

The Big Story

Trump budget proposes cutting heating assistance

The Trump administration is considering cutting a program that helps low-income people heat and cool their homes.

© Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

A draft budget request document reviewed by The Hill calls for the elimination of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by not providing it any funding at all.

The federal budget is controlled by Congress, not the presidential administration, and LIHEAP has historically had bipartisan support — so the document does not necessarily mean the program will actually be eliminated.

However, the Department of Health and Human Services has already fired all of the staff working in the LIHEAP office.

The document also calls for the elimination of other programs including Head Start, which provides free learning services like preschools to young children. And it would eliminate various other programs for community services, rural development and nutrition and disability services.

The document in question, which was first reported by The Washington Post and later obtained by The Hill, is known as a “passback” and comes from the White House Office of Management and Budget.

It will inform the administration’s eventual budget proposal. Lawmakers, however, will ultimately determine whether these programs are funded.

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