WASHINGTON – On April 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that it is cutting another 10,000 of its 80,000 employees for a total of 20,000 terminations and early retirements, a massive downsizing that is likely to decimate staffing for hundreds of important programs and includes the firing of all staff who run the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP helps older adults, families with small children, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable families to afford their home energy bills. LIHEAP keeps the heat on in winter, and cooling in the summer, for over 6 million families each year.
LIHEAP has supported energy affordability for working families since 1981, and has enjoyed wide bipartisan support.
“LIHEAP saves lives, and it has helped keep home energy more affordable for over 40 years,” said Olivia Wein, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “It’s critical that HHS ensure there is no disruption to the administration of the LIHEAP program in order to protect families during future hot summers and cold winters.”
“LIHEAP provides heating and cooling assistance to about 6.2 million very low income households, and states need these funds to pay for summer cooling, winter heating, and emergency funding for households that need additional assistance and weatherization” stated Mark Wolfe, Executive Director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. “We are very concerned that the lack of staff will result in delays in the $378 million in unreleased LIHEAP funding to the states. If that happens, states can’t provide emergency help to families in need.”
Senators Bill Cassidy and Bernie Sanders, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee invited HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to testify regarding the layoffs. NCLC and NEADA also call on the members of the Committee to insist that the legal requirements to provide LIHEAP are met and to critically examine all of the other pending staffing cuts to ensure that everyday Americans are not put at risk. The HELP Committee hearing is slated for Thursday, April 10.
While state programs that administer LIHEAP benefits have funding to continue to operate for the coming months, the elimination of federal staff threatens the stability of this popular, essential program in the coming fiscal years. It also puts at risk the $378 million in remaining unreleased funds that Congress approved in March to help prevent families from being disconnected from energy service.
“The LIHEAP program run by HHS protects the daily health and safety of people, particularly those most vulnerable to extreme cold and extreme hot weather across the country, in every state and territory,” said Wein.
Related Resources
- National Energy and Utility Affordability Coalition, LIHEAP Action Toolkit, 2025
- National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, Energy Policy Reports
- Massachusetts Discount Rate Customers Falling Farther Behind on Utility Bills, March 24, 2025
- Protecting Access to Essential Utility Service During Extreme Heat and Climate Change, July 16, 2024
- The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP): A Safety Net that Saves Lives, Feb. 13, 2018
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