Guno צְבִי
We fight, We win, Am Yisrael Chai
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) introduced the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, with the specific purpose of ending energy poverty in the United States for low and moderate income families. The intent of the bill is simple: lower income families would no longer have to struggle to pay unaffordable home energy bills. The bill would also establish a "just transition" grant program to ensure lower income households do not get left behind during the clean energy transition by helping them move away from fossil fuels through home retrofits, decarbonization, and renewable energy.
Energy is simply unaffordable for lower income families.
Last month the Census Bureau reported that for families with incomes of less than $35,000 a year, about 51 percent said that they reduced or went without basic household necessities, such as medicine or food, in order to pay an energy bill. There is nothing surprising about this data. Low income families struggle to pay for basic needs, including energy. They cannot afford to have their power shut off and will go without food and medicine in order to pay the bill.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is the primary federal effort designed to help families pay their home heating and cooling bills, but the program has been underfunded for years and reaches fewer than one out of six eligible households. As a result of limited funding, we have watched families fall further and further behind on their home energy bills during the pandemic. And even with supplemental funding for LIHEAP, outstanding energy arrearages have remained stubbornly high, at about $22 billion.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...lies-adjust-to-rising-temperatures/ar-AAThBKK
Energy is simply unaffordable for lower income families.
Last month the Census Bureau reported that for families with incomes of less than $35,000 a year, about 51 percent said that they reduced or went without basic household necessities, such as medicine or food, in order to pay an energy bill. There is nothing surprising about this data. Low income families struggle to pay for basic needs, including energy. They cannot afford to have their power shut off and will go without food and medicine in order to pay the bill.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is the primary federal effort designed to help families pay their home heating and cooling bills, but the program has been underfunded for years and reaches fewer than one out of six eligible households. As a result of limited funding, we have watched families fall further and further behind on their home energy bills during the pandemic. And even with supplemental funding for LIHEAP, outstanding energy arrearages have remained stubbornly high, at about $22 billion.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...lies-adjust-to-rising-temperatures/ar-AAThBKK
