Reply #29: Heating aid bill fails in Senate

[Judi Lynn]

Heating aid bill fails in Senate
Plan would have added $2.9b for poor households
By Jim Abrams, Associated Press | October 27, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A measure to substantially increase funding for the federal home heating program failed in the Senate yesterday, with opponents deflecting arguments that soaring energy prices could force the poor to choose between heat and food.

Senators voted, 54 to 43, in favor of a proposal to boost the fiscal 2006 budget for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to $5.1 billion from $2.2 billion. But that was six votes short of the 60-vote majority needed to approve new spending not coupled with equivalent spending cuts.

Northern senators who pushed for increased spending for the program, led by Senators Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, and Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, argued that the surge in fuel costs will be crippling to low-income families.

People could have to ''choose between keeping the heat on, putting food on the table, or buying much needed prescription drugs," Collins said. ''No family should need to make such terrible choices."
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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/10/27/heating_aid_bill_fails_in_senate/