Send a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper

Every year, Congress deliberates about the status of LIHEAP, and every year LIHEAP advocates must urge lawmakers to continue to support this program. Members of Congress react to news and concerns in their area, so letters to the editor are a great way to demonstrate localized support for this essential program.

Below are two sample letters that you can use as a guide when writing something to your area papers. You can copy/paste the text below, or download either Microsoft Word document by clicking on the links below. 

Sample Letter 1 [download as a Word document]

[date]

To The Editor,

People in our community were facing higher home heating bills this winter even before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita disrupted our oil and gas production. Now, the Energy Information Administration predicts natural gas prices that will be 38 percent higher on average this winter. Fuel oil is expected to be 21 percent higher, with propane costing 15 percent more and electricity 7 percent more.

It’s going to be a struggle for most Americans to pay higher heating bills. But for many of our neighbors, it will be almost impossible. Senior citizens trying to get by on Social Security, the disabled and poor families with small children will have a much harder time. Energy costs often ate up as much as 30 percent of their household income even before the prices began to rise.

While we need long-term energy solutions, we need immediate government intervention to help those least able to cope with higher energy costs. The best short-term help is the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. It’s a federally funded program that helps people pay their energy bills when they might otherwise be faced with utility shutoffs or with empty oil or propane tanks.

It’s a program that works well. Unfortunately, it’s also a program that’s grossly under-funded. Congress provided only $2.2 billion for LIHEAP in 2005. That was only enough to help about 14 percent of the estimated 32 million U.S. households eligible for assistance. We clearly need an increase for Fiscal Year 2006.

I urge you to join me in asking our senators and representatives to raise funding for LIHEAP to $5.1 billion this fiscal year. That would be enough to compensate for the higher energy prices we’re expecting and would help people when they need help the most. It’s not just the right thing to do. It will save lives.


 
Sincerely,