Harkin: $26.4 Million in Low-Income Heating Assistance Coming to Iowa

LIHEAP funding will help those in need stay warm during long winter months

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, announced today that Iowa has been awarded $26,431,102 through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).  The funding will help eligible Iowans meet home energy costs, and comes in addition to the $40.5 million in LIHEAP funding Senator Harkin previously secured for the state in Fiscal Year 2011.  Today’s funding was facilitated by a provision Senator Harkin included in December’s Continuing Budget Resolution.

“Winter can be a desperate time for Iowans who are struggling economically,” Senator Harkin said.  “This funding will help thousands of low-income households, especially those with young children and elderly, make it through the season.”

A nationwide survey of households receiving LIHEAP aid found that 42 percent of recipients went without medical or dental insurance and 32 percent went without food for at least one day.  In 2009, the latest year for which data is available, 95,234 Iowan households received LIHEAP assistance – one of the highest numbers on record for the state.

Source: Senator Harkin