By Max Cacas
Buffalo, NY – A Buffalo lawmaker wants to re-direct federal priorities when it comes to providing relief to low-income residents struggling to keep their houses warm this winter.
"I represent Buffalo. And we know a little bit about snow. And we now a little bit about cold. Hence, the gloves," Representative Brian Higgins said in Washington Thursday.
Higgins is co-sponsoring a bill to provide $5.1 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, over the next two years. He wants to provide energy assistance to farmers and small business owners hit hard by record gas prices. Higgins says the measure would get the money by repealing $8 billion in subsidies and tax breaks found in the Energy Bill passed this summer.
"This is about taking it from the folks who don't need it," Higgins said. "Oil and gas companies are earning record profits. We'll give it to the folks who do need it badly, including the people from my district."
The New York Democrat says the heating energy cost crisis was "topic one" at a recent job fair in nearby Jamestown.
"The number one thing on people's minds -- small businesses and residents -- was the high cost of electricity and home heating oil," Higgins said. "We have 43,000 people who are eligible for home heating help, and don't get it because there are not enough funds."
Higgins charged that Republicans cut funding for LIHEAP by more than $200 million at a time when heating prices are expected to rise as much as 44 percent for many families.