S7246 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 24, 2008 and respect on this sad 10-year mile- At a time when home energy bills are ing it harder and harder to stay warm stone. soaring, this legislation would nearly in the winter or stay cool in the sum- Madam President, so Members may double the funding for LIHEAP in fis- mer. join in the planting of the tree on the cal year 2008, taking it from a little In my State of Vermont and through- Capitol grounds, I suggest the absence more than $2.5 billion to $5.1 billion—a out New England and the Northeast, of a quorum. total increase of $2.53 billion. This is, people are extremely worried that they The PRESIDING OFFICER. The in fact, what Congress has authorized will not have enough money to afford clerk will call the roll. for LIHEAP. the price of heating oil next winter. A The bill clerk proceeded to call the Let me say a few words about why we newspaper in my State, the Stowe Re- roll. need to significantly increase funding porter, recently editorialized that the Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I for LIHEAP. lack of affordable heating oil could ask unanimous consent that the order In 2007, 5.8 million Americans—pri- turn into New England’s version of for the quorum call be rescinded. marily senior citizens, working fami- Hurricane Katrina next winter. We The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without lies with kids, and people with disabil- cannot allow that to happen. objection, it is so ordered. ities—utilized this program. These are I want all of my colleagues to under- f the most vulnerable people in our stand that the home energy crisis that country. Unfortunately, these 5.8 mil- WARM IN WINTER AND COOL IN is being faced throughout the northern lion Americans are only 16 percent—16 SUMMER ACT—MOTION TO PRO- part of our country is something that percent—of the people who are eligible CEED—Continued is very imminent and is something for the program. The vast majority of that people are very concerned about. Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, all the people who are eligible cannot get But this program, LIHEAP, is not just of us recognize there are very strong into the program because we lack the a program for cold-weather States; it is differences of opinion in Congress funds to help them. Madam President, also a program for hot-weather States about how to resolve the major energy 94 percent of the participants in the so that the elderly, the sick, and the crisis facing working families through- LIHEAP program were elderly, dis- frail in hot-weather States can afford out our country. I have my views on abled, or had a child in the family to pay soaring electric bills to provide this issue, and other Members have dif- under 18. the air-conditioning they need. In ferent points of view, and that is the From fiscal year 2003 to fiscal year other words, this program is not just a way it is. 2008, the cost of the average heating oil life-and-death program for the north- I am happy to report, however, that bill has increased by over 93 percent— ern tier of our country; it is vitally im- there is an increasing unanimity of un- almost doubled. The estimated in- portant for the South and Southwest derstanding around one very important crease in an average natural gas bill and for people who are struggling to fact regarding this energy crisis; that during that same period has gone up by pay for the skyrocketing price of elec- is, if we do not dramatically increase about 50 percent. Unfortunately, tricity which has tripled in some parts funding for the highly successful Low- LIHEAP funding has lagged far behind of the country. What we are concerned Income Home Energy Assistance Pro- these outrageously high increases in about there is that if you are 90 years gram, usually known as LIHEAP, sen- energy costs. In fact, we are spending of age and you are sick and you cannot ior citizens on fixed incomes, the dis- 23 percent less on LIHEAP today than afford skyrocketing electric bills and abled, and working families with chil- we did 2 years ago, and after adjusting your electricity gets turned off, you dren are in serious danger of either for inflation, we spent more on are in serious trouble. freezing to death this coming winter or LIHEAP 20 years ago than we are According to the National Energy perhaps dying of heat stroke this sum- spending right now. Assistance Directors’ Association, a mer because they are unable to pay Let’s be very clear. What we are talk- recordbreaking 15.6 million American their home energy bills. We cannot ing about now is a life-and-death situa- families, or nearly 15 percent of all allow that to happen. tion. Many people do not understand households, are at least 30 days over- I am happy to announce, in a this, but more people have died in our due in paying their utility bills. This is tripartisan effort, that more and more country from the extreme heat and ex- a crisis situation and a situation in Senators understand that reality and treme cold since 1998 than all natural which LIHEAP can be of significant are prepared to work together to pro- disasters in this country combined, in- help. tect our citizens. S. 3186, the Warm in cluding floods, fires, hurricanes, and To demonstrate how important Winter and Cool in Summer Act, the tornadoes. LIHEAP is right now for Southern LIHEAP legislation that I recently in- According to the Centers for Disease States dealing with a major heat wave, troduced, now has 53 cosponsors—53 co- Control, over 1,000 Americans from let me give you a few examples of what sponsors—38 Democrats, 13 Repub- across the country died from hypo- I am referring to. This is hard to be- licans, and 2 Independents. I thank all thermia in their own homes just be- lieve, but it is true. Over the past dec- of those cosponsors for their support. I tween 1999 and 2002. Those are the lat- ade, the last 10 years, more than 400 am absolutely confident that as soon est figures we have available. In other people have died of heat exposure in as this bill gets on the Senate floor, words, they froze to death because they the State of Arizona, including 31 in not only do we have the 50 votes, I am could not afford to adequately heat July of 2005 alone. All of these deaths quite confident we are going to have 60 their homes. How many of these deaths could have been prevented if the people votes and perhaps more. were preventable? All of them were, ac- affected had air-conditioning. Without I also thank majority leader HARRY cording to the CDC. We will probably increased support from the Federal REID for filing a cloture motion last not know for several years how many Government, Arizona will be out of night on the motion to proceed to this Americans died last winter because LIHEAP funding before the end of this very important legislation. Senator they could not afford to heat their month. REID understands, as I think most of us homes, but clearly one death is too Let me quote from a letter I received do, that it is absolutely essential for many. on July 15—last week—from Phil Gor- the health and well-being of millions of I understand this country is strug- don, the mayor of Phoenix, AZ. This is our citizens that this bill be passed, gling with an emergency situation in what he writes: and passed as soon as possible. My hope terms of flooding in the Midwest and I am writing to express my support for the is that after passage in the Senate, we wildfires in California, but there is an- Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer Act. can get it over to the House before the other emergency which must be dealt Currently Arizona can only provide assist- August break and see it pass in that with now while we also deal with those ance to 6 percent— body as well. That may be overly opti- emergencies. Six percent— mistic, but that is what I would like to At a time when the costs of home of eligible LIHEAP households. To make see. heating fuels and electricity are soar- matters worse, Phoenix continues to experi- Let me say a few words about why ing and when the economy is in de- ence extreme heat. In the past month alone, this bill needs to be passed. cline, millions of Americans are find- we have had 15 days with temperatures at or VerDate Aug 31 2005 02:20 Oct 23, 2008 Jkt 059060 PO 00000 Frm 00044 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD08\S24JY8.REC S24JY8 mmaher on PROD1PC76 with CONG-REC-ONLINE July 24, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S7247 above 110 degrees. This extreme heat is espe- connection or homelessness is Ms. O’Brien, a least 60 votes, if we need that, and cially hard on the very young, the elderly 33 year old, single parent with 5 children be- maybe a lot more than that. My hope and disabled who are on fixed incomes and tween the ages of 7–16, and a newborn grand- is that we move it on to the House to can no longer afford to cool their homes.