Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
(LIHEAP)
Department of Health and Human Services~6 million low-income households; 40% include seniors; 52% include disabled members
Summary
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is a federal program run by the Department of Health and Human Services that helps low-income households pay their heating and cooling bills, fix unsafe heating equipment, and avoid utility shutoffs. The FY2027 budget proposes eliminating LIHEAP entirely, cutting its full $4,000 million (100%) in funding, with the administration arguing the program is duplicative, prone to waste and fraud, and that market forces should address energy costs instead.
Who Is Affected
About 6 million low-income households nationwide rely on LIHEAP each year, and roughly 40% of those households include a senior citizen while 52% include a person with a disability. In fiscal year 2023 alone, the program prevented or reversed energy disconnections about 2.75 million times and helped weatherize more than 60,000 homes.
What this cut would actually mean
If eliminated, millions of families would have no federal backstop to pay heating and cooling bills, meaning more utility shutoffs, especially for seniors and people with disabilities who depend on electricity for medical equipment or climate control. Advocates and state officials warn this raises the risk of health emergencies and deaths during extreme heat and cold, and the program's federal staff at HHS were already eliminated in 2025, leaving states without support to plan for a future without this funding.
Why this hits Alabama harder
Alabama has one of the highest poverty rates in the country, with about 15% of residents living below the poverty line compared to roughly 12% nationally, so a larger share of Alabama households would qualify for and rely on LIHEAP heating and cooling help. LIHEAP also serves many seniors and people with disabilities, two groups that make up a big part of Alabama's population, so ending the program would hit the state's low-income, elderly, and disabled residents especially hard. Because Alabama has more poverty and more households struggling to pay bills than the U.S. average, a full elimination of LIHEAP would disproportionately hurt Alabama families.
- What is the poverty rate in Alabama? | USAFacts — Reports Alabama's 2024 poverty rate at about 15.2% of the population, higher than the national rate.
- Hunger Statistics - Beat Auburn Beat Hunger | The University of Alabama — Notes Alabama's poverty rate is 'noticeably larger' than the national average, citing Alabama Possible data.
- Barriers to Prosperity DATA SHEET 2024 - Alabama Possible — States that Alabama is the nation's seventh poorest state, with more than 798,000 residents living below the poverty line.
- Alabama LIHEAP Program Profile - LIHEAP Clearinghouse — Provides state-specific LIHEAP eligibility levels and benefit amounts administered through ADECA.
Sources
- Pappas Leads Opposition to Trump's Elimination of Home Energy Assistance Program — Congressional letter noting the FY2027 budget proposal to eliminate LIHEAP and its impact on households, including 28,000 in New Hampshire.
- Trump's new budget targets LIHEAP for elimination — News coverage confirming the FY2027 budget proposal eliminates LIHEAP funding.
- President Trump's FY2027 budget proposal eliminates federal funding for LIHEAP — Details on the administration's stated justification, including reference to a GAO report on program effectiveness.
- LIHEAP in Crisis: State Leaders, Advocates Warn HHS Cuts Put Low-Income Families at Risk — Reports that LIHEAP serves about 6.7 million households annually, 40% including seniors, and describes the elimination of the federal staff who administer it.
- This program helps 6 million families pay their energy bills. Here's what's at risk if it's cut. — Reporting on the households at risk without LIHEAP funding and health risks tied to lost cooling and heating assistance.
- LIHEAP Staff Eliminated — Reports that HHS eliminated all federal staff overseeing LIHEAP in April 2025 as part of a broader restructuring.
Administration's Stated Rationale
“Program considered duplicative and subject to waste/fraud; energy costs to be addressed through market mechanisms.”