The Trump administration is considering support for the end of a program that helps low-income people heat and cool their homes.
A draft budget request document reviewed by The Hill calls for the elimination of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by not providing it any funding at all.
The federal budget is controlled by Congress, not the presidential administration, and LIHEAP has historically had bipartisan support — so the document does not necessarily mean the program will actually be eliminated.
However, the Department of Health and Human Services has already fired all of the staff working in the LIHEAP office.
The document additionally calls for the elimination of other programs including Head Start, which provides free learning services like preschools to young children. And it would eliminate various other programs for community services, rural development and nutrition and disability services.
The document in question, which was first reported by The Washington Post and later obtained by The Hill, is known as a “passback” and comes from the White House Office of Management and Budget.
It will inform the administration’s eventual budget proposal. Lawmakers, however, will ultimately determine whether these programs are funded.
The document comes as the Trump administration seeks to reshape the federal government, including by firing a large number of employees. The administration has instructed agencies to put together reorganization plans.
The passback instructs the department to put together the next phase of its plan in a way that is “consistent” with the budget document’s funding and policy.
Bloomberg Government first reported that the document seeks to cut LIHEAP.
A previous passback reviewed by The Hill governing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also called for significant cuts including the elimination of that agency’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research office.
