President Obama has proposed reducing funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program to $3.020 billion for FY 2013.  This amount is more than $400 million less than the current funding level and would be devastating to the program and the people it serves.

Last year more than 8 million households received energy assistance grants from LIHEAP to help them pay their home energy bills. With one out of every seven Americans living at the poverty level and 14 million unemployed, maintaining adequate funding for this vital safety net program is imperative.

I urge you to provide $5.1 billion for LIHEAP for FY 2013.