Trump administration fires staff of program that helps low-income homes pay for heat [View all]
Source: ABC News/AP
April 3, 2025, 8:13 PM
The Trump administration has laid off the entire staff of a $4.1 billion program that helps millions of low-income households pay for heat during the winter, unnerving state officials who are now wondering whether they will still receive millions of dollars in expected federal payments.
The roughly two dozen workers who ran the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program were among 10,000 people fired as part of a dramatic restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Services, according to Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.
He said several senior employees who oversee the program, which serves about 6.2 million households annually, told him they were locked out of their building after arriving to work Monday. “The way they did it, there was no like warning,” he said.
On Thursday, 13 U.S. senators, including two Republicans, sent a letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urging the administration to reverse its decision to cut the LIHEAP staff. They warned the terminations will undermine the agency's ability to provide a “crucial lifeline” for low-income seniors and families. The program had already delivered the bulk of its aid to the states for this fiscal year but had yet to distribute $378 million.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/trump-administration-fires-staff-program-helps-low-income-120470902
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