President Obama’s Health and Human Services (HHS) released over $863 million in funding for low-income familes to pay their heating bills this winter, perhaps blunting Republican critiques that his decision to block the Keystone pipeline contributed to high energy prices.
“This support is critical for families needing assistance to pay their home energy costs,” George Sheldon, HHS acting assistant secretary for children and families, said in a statement today. Congress provided the money through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
The LIHEAP announcement comes one day after Obama’s State Department said that they could not approve the Keystone XL pipeline in the 60-day timeframe required by Congress as part of the December payroll tax cut. “Gasoline prices have nearly doubled in the three years since President Obama took office, and they’re only expected to go higher moving forward,” House Energy and Commerce Chair Fred Upton, R-Mich., said in a statement criticizing Obama’s Keystone decision. “Canada is our ally and closest trading partner, and it would be foolish to let this pro-jobs, pro-energy project slip through our fingers now.
