Several Connecticut state lawmakers, agency officials, and private stakeholders pleaded with the Trump administration to reverse the firing of Federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) staff in a press conference held this morning.
“It is a program that benefits constituents in every single state representative and state senate district,” said Senate Deputy Majority Leader Matt Lesser (D-Cromwell) “It is a vital lifeline to keep people with disabilities, to keep the elderly, to keep low income families, from freezing to death in the winter.”
LIHEAP was first created in 1981, with the purpose of providing financial assistance to low-income families for the payment of their heating and energy bills, and has since been administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). While federal LIHEAP staff made up only ten of the 10,000 federal employees whose jobs were cut by HHS yesterday, state officials claimed that their importance in administering the program is significant and that the firing of these officials throws the program’s future into uncertainty, obfuscating the actions that state lawmakers should take in response.
Lesser was joined by Rep. Jillian Gilchrest (D-West Hartford), State Consumer Counsel Claire Coleman, DSS Deputy Commissioner Peter Hadler, Rhonda Evans, Executive Director of the Connecticut Association for Community Action and Chris Herb, President of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association.
According to Hadler, Connecticut receives approximately $80 million in federal LIHEAP funding each year, and CEAP, the state’s program to administer this funding, serves approximately 100,000 households, which is estimated to account for 200,000 individuals. CEAP is overseen by Connecticut’s DSS, in conjunction with local community action agencies.
“What’s very important to understand is that 75% of those households have a vulnerable household member – someone with a disability, an older adult, or a child that’s very young, under the age of five,” said Hadler. “LIHEAP is a lifeline in cold weather, and it’s a critical support to energy affordability year round. Without LIHEAP, families can freeze to death or be forced to go without electricity.”
Hadler noted that the state is currently owed an additional $8 million in funding from the federal government from last year. Lesser explained that 90% of the federal funding is given to states at the beginning of each year and that the last 10% is given at the end. The uncertainty surrounding when, or whether, that funding will be received, as well as whether or not the federal government will continue to support the program going forward, was another point of concern.
“We don’t know what’s happening,” said Lesser. “They could have moved the function over to some other agency without telling anybody, but we have nobody to call right now. We don’t know what number to call, we don’t know if this is a priority for the administration or not, we have heard radio silence.”
Hadler, who Lesser noted worked closely with LIHEAP’s federal officials, explained the role they play in communicating with state officials. Hadler said that in the past, they have helped answer legal questions regarding the program’s administration, performed audits, helped approve state expenditures and reviewed and approved federally required state expenditure plans.
“Right now, we don’t know who to call,” said Hadler. “We didn’t actually receive any message from our federal partners, we have received no formal notice that this actually happened. You know, emails bounce back from people that we have worked with for many years, who are deeply knowledgeable of the program, so it is a really frustrating, uncertain time.”
Lesser noted that Democrats invited Republican lawmakers to show support at the press conference, and said that although a Republican White House decided to make these cuts, the significance of the decision should garner bipartisan action against it. Lesser asserted several times that support for LIHEAP and CEAP has been bipartisan, noting last year’s unanimous Senate vote to approve an emergency bill that increased state funding to CEAP.
“People will freeze to death if this program isn’t available this winter,” said Lesser. “This is so important, and this should not be about just back and forth politics, this should be about saving our constituents’ lives.”
Republicans released a statement in response, effectively rejecting the Democrats’ request for bipartisan opposition. The statement, attributed to House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora (North Branford) and Sen. Jay Case (Winsted), a ranking member of the state’s HHS Committee, criticized Democrats for making “Washington politics their key issue this spring,” a criticism they have levied with increasing frequency.
“In two days and two news conferences, Democrats have absurdly predicted thousands of deaths in Connecticut due to federal policy changes—while admitting they don’t even understand the real impact,” read the statement. “LIHEAP is among the topics they’ve bungled, repeatedly responding ‘I don’t know’ when asked about staffing adjustments affecting a small group of bureaucrats—not cuts to program benefits.”
The statement concluded by asserting that Democrats should “work with federal officials and support President Trump’s plan to expand natural gas,” to lower the state’s high energy costs, saying that Republicans will “continue our record of focusing on fixing problems within our grasp.”
Both Lesser and Gilchrest noted the strain it will put on lawmakers as they try to navigate the budget process. Gilchrest said that there are “conversations going on” about whether or not the state should tap into its rainy-day fund to address the list of recently announced federal funding cuts, but that “with these cuts coming two, three, four a day at this point, there’s only so much we can do.” Despite this, she assured the public that lawmakers “will step up.”
Lesser noted that budget bills have already made it out of their respective subcommittees, and that the legislature has a deadline of June 1 to submit its final budget proposals to the governor.
“This chaos that’s been inserted into the process makes it really hard for states to even know what to divert our limited resources to,” said Lesser. “We don’t know what the story is, and that’s why this is so dispiriting, and that’s why the most helpful thing would be for the President and for the [DHS] Secretary to reverse their cuts and give these people their jobs back.”
Was this article helpful?
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
I tried explaining this months ago. Lesser is making the claim the Lamont Administration has been an A+ steward of federal funds and taxpayer dollars. He has all the pertinent data and supporting evidence necessary to support that claim sitting on his laptop. You will ask for transparency. You want to see the accounting for New Opportunities, Inc, Sean Skorton, Community Renewal Team, Inc, James Correira, Center for Ecotechnology, etc. Lesser can (and should) denounce cuts to the Federal Government’s cut to LIHEAP as soon as we have a chance to conduct a full forensic accounting of those funds issued to these programs in order to ensure there were no instances of government waste, abuse, and/or fraud. That’s the answer. That’s how we all stand together, united as one on this issue. But Lesser still hasn’t explained this problem I mentioned months ago and he should be able to explain it.
1. Contract # 22DEP22223AA (Competitive—$6,800,000)—This contractor (International Center of Appropriate and Sustainable Technology (ICAST)) helps implement funding sources from other programs that help address health and safety issues. This agreement was extended to December 31, 2025. (SCSB Tri-Annual Procurement Audit, FY24)
Contract #22DEP22223AA; International Center FOR Appropriate AND Sustainable Technology (ICAST); NON-COMPETITIVE–$7,900,000; Contract Begin Date: 06/16/2022; Contract End Date: 12/31/2025. (Office Of Policy and Management, PSA FY2023, Report to the General Assembly)
DEEP leveraged $12.3 million Initial Federal Funding to Address Health and Safety Barriers that Impede Cost-Saving Weatherization Services to underserved communities and low-income families. The “goal” of this program was to lower household energy costs and energy burdens while improving health outcomes through mold and asbestos remediation. It had a fancy name like “Weatherization Barrier Remediation Program.” Basically, no one had any clue what it meant. But Lamont drew some cash out of that word salad–over half that initial $12.3 came from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), and he prioritized it in his 2021 budget, claiming to help those most vulnerable in Connecticut with lowering their energy costs. So how did this $8 million contract work out for Connecticut’s most vulnerable? No one really knows. All we know is some non-profit based in Denver, Colorado got an $8 million non-competitive contract in 2022 for “Energy Efficiency Intervention w/ Health and Safety”. And we know an audit was just posted to the SCSB website that is $1,100,000 short on the actual amount.
And FYI: Representative Mark Andersen from the 62nd District is the one to watch to this legislative session. Of all the hearings and meetings that have come and gone this session, none has left an impact on my thinking like the one where Representative Andersen lays out his reasoning, support, and justification for an amendment and moratorium to lithium-ion battery storage approval and installation. I read all the Town of Granby meeting minutes as a result. I watched recorded streams and listened to resident concerns. The concerns are real. These are legitimate, rational concerns that most, if not all towns might reasonably express. The Democratic Majority rejected his proposal for a moratorium–a 6 month press-pause timeout, to at the very least, figure out how to manage an emergency at the facility if there should ever be one.
Today, Julian Boggs, Director of State Policy for Key Capture Energy, spoke about the emergency response plan in place for Granby. There is no emergency plan in place. There is no plan at all in fact. Listen to it. I actually felt bad Julian Boggs. He can’t a single assurance because there is no assurance. There is no one manning these facilities. If shit happens, it’s on the town’s responsibility to deal with it. They need to figure it out. That’s fucking dangerous, not to mention a massive financial burden on the residents of that town.