Senators Collins, Reed, Murkowski Lead Bipartisan Group Urging OMB to Release Remaining LIHEAP Funds

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, along with U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), both members of the Appropriations Committee, led a bipartisan group of 35 of their Senate colleagues in urging White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought to swiftly release the approximately $400 million in remaining Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds that Congress delivered in Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26).

LIHEAP is a federally funded program that helps low-income households pay utility bills, address energy crises, and lower costs by improving home energy efficiency through weatherization. Over the last year, nearly six million households nationwide received LIHEAP assistance.

"As the main federal program that helps low-income households and seniors with their energy bills, LIHEAP provides critical assistance during the cold winter and hot summer months," the Senators wrote. "With low-income families and seniors feeling additional strains on their household budgets, a timely release of LIHEAP funding is even more critical to ensure families do not need to choose between paying their energy bills and other essentials, like food or medicine."

"We urge you to immediately release the remaining roughly $400 million of FY26 Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funding available under PL 119-75. […] Our states are ready to deploy these funds to help vulnerable households as soon as they receive them from HHS," the Senators concluded.

Overriding the Administration's proposed elimination of LIHEAP, Senators Collins, Reed, and Murkowski successfully led bipartisan efforts to provide a total of $4.045 billion for the program in FY26 - a $20 million increase over the previous year. Much of that funding has been distributed to help struggling families and seniors on fixed incomes, with more than $38 million already distributed to households in Maine this winter.

Click here to read the complete text of the letter.

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