The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, is among many government programs on the chopping block under President Donald Trump’s budget proposal. Leahy also highlighted the possible loss of a home energy-saving program and funding for five community action centers across Vermont.
Those community action centers host programs including a food shelf, Head Start and financial counseling. The agencies involved served almost 50,000 low-income Vermonters last year.
The leader of the state’s largest community action agency described the Trump budget as being “like one amputation after another.”
Leahy, the vice chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, said he would vote no if the cuts as proposed are not removed. He said he has been appealing to senators in other states, including those in warm climates that receive air-conditioning assistance through LIHEAP, to join in opposition to the cuts.
“It’s appallingly unbalanced, out-of-touch and short-sighted,” said Leahy, a Democrat, adding that he’d toned down his comments from what he told his staff in private.
Last year Vermont received $17 million from LIHEAP. The feds also gave Vermont more than $20 million in grants that fund the community action agencies and other projects. The Weatherization Assistance Program helped achieve energy savings in 900 Vermont homes.
At a press event at the Colchester offices of Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, a community action agency, Leahy and advocates said the programs had a track record of reducing the number of people in poverty.
And saving people from freezing to death.
“Heating is a life and death matter,” Leahy said. He recounted how the furnace in his MIddlesex home caught fire last month during a below-zero spell and automatically shut off before damage was done. Because he has financial resources, Leahy said he was able to keep the home heated with a woodstove and electric heaters and get the unit fixed.
Leahy, the dean of the Senate, took a swipe at Trump, noting the president was in sunny Florida at his Mar-a-Lago Club resort while Vermonters still faced cold weather. And he scolded Trump for inappropriately issuing policy statements over Twitter.
Leahy said he was hopeful LIHEAP and other programs could be saved in the Appropriations Committee because of their widespread appeal. Last year, LIHEAP nationally was a $3.36 billion program.
“I think we can save LIHEAP. I am fighting like mad for it,” he said.
“Instead of help, this budget is like one amputation after another, not bringing help to the community, but cut after cut, loss after loss,” Demers said. If passed, she said, the effects would be devastating and decimate the agency’s programs.
“Our vision is to bridge gaps and build futures for the people that we serve. This budget widens the chasm and diminishes life,” Demers said.
In questions from reporters, Leahy reiterated he would vote against Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch and wanted a full-scale, independent investigation of alleged ties between officials in the Trump administration and Russian government figures.
“I see no way of voting for him,” Leahy said of Gorsuch. He sent Gorsuch a series of questions over the weekend and said that unless the nominee had an “amazing confirmation conversion” and changed his views on several issues, he would be voting no.
Over the weekend, Leahy told VTDigger he was “not inclined” to participate in a filibuster. Monday he said, “I would certainly discuss it with” the Democratic caucus.
Democrats won a one-week delay Monday on the Gorsuch vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee.