This blog is part of my ongoing effort to maintain a record of my written communication expressing concern about the actions of the current presidential administration that lead to unnecessary (and in some cases cruel) harm to others, to the U.S., or to the global community.
I wrote the following letter to address cutting of all staff in the LIHEAP program which provides assistance to maintain electricity to individuals in need including but not limited to those requiring oxygen to breathe and those living in states that experience extreme temperatures in the winter or summer. Feel free to copy and paste any of the following text for your own letters or other advocacy to protect vulnerable populations in the U.S.
More about LIHEAP:
https://www.liheap.org/about
How to reach your U.S. Senators:
https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm
How to reach your U.S. Representative:
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
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Dear Senator <Name>,
Dear Representative <Name>,
I am writing to strongly encourage continued funding for LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program).
From the information that is available to me (and to the public), my understanding is that approximately 10% of the 2025 budget for LIHEAP has not yet been allocated because of a series of determinations involving certain (albeit extensive) calculations that need to be done by a LIHEAP staff member. Since all LIHEAP staff members were laid off recently, my understanding is also that the budget will remain unallocated because there is simply no one left to do the necessary work. Further, it appears to me that the 2026 federal budget seeks to cut off LIHEAP entirely.
Before voicing my thoughts on eliminating LIHEAP, I would like to communicate that my political views are moderate and lean only slightly left of center. I am not a fan of proliferating entitlement programs just because they sound good on paper. Instead, I am strongly in favor of programs that serve those who, through no fatal flaw or major fault of their own, are not earning enough money to maintain their basic needs.
My understanding is that, before mass firings over the last several months, LIHEAP was run efficiently, channeling money directly to the states and directly to individuals vetted and approved for help with their home heating and cooling bills.
In an era where temperatures are often reaching extremes of heat in the summer and extremes of cold in the winter, such aid is critical. Temperature extremes can kill people when access to warm or cool spaces is cut off. Individuals who need oxygen concentrators to breathe cannot survive when their electricity is turned off. In an affluent country, is it wise or ethical to deny people access to electricity? Do we really want that to be a part of this administration’s legacy?
In addition to the immediate impacts of cutting LIHEAP funds, actions taken to curtail LIHEAP are an excellent example of where I believe the federal government is taking an ineffective approach to cutting waste and fraud that is fraught with ethical concerns.
Instead of improving our methods for finding and pursuing those who pursue tax evasion, we promote tax evasion by making major cuts at the IRS. Why?
Instead of directing efforts towards the complicated issues of Medicare and Medicaid, cutting fraud which gives a real bang for the buck, we cut off energy assistance to very low-income individuals to save money. Why?
Instead of finding new ways to reduce food waste in this country, we cut off programs that distribute ugly produce and other surplus food to working families. Why?
And, in the end, after all these dramatic and highly damaging cuts that detrimentally impact the lives of so many individuals and families who have valid struggles, all the legal fees that result from the government’s hasty actions… reduce the resulting “savings” to negligible or even negative. What on earth are we doing here?
If LIHEAP is not being run efficiently, then with a sincerity of heart, I beg you to take action to fix it, not throw it away. If there is waste in the food distribution network, find it and curtail it. Please move away from "throwing out the baby with the bathwater" with these hasty, broad brush stroke actions that in the end, do more harm and good.
It took us, as a country, a long time to get to the level of fraud and waste that now costs the federal government a mind-boggling amount of dollars every year. These are complex problems that should be solved… but cannot be solved overnight.
Thank you for considering my perspective.
Sincerely,
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