Uncle Sam is sending New Jersey nearly $136.8 million to help low-income residents keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The administration of President Barack Obama said last week it is releasing $34.2 million under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program for New Jersey now that Obama has signed a delayed spending bill into law.
That’s on top of $102.6 million in LIHEAP funds that the state has already been allocated for this fiscal year.
The majority of New Jersey’s LIHEAP funds are used up in the winter months. A small portion is used to help needy residents with medically necessary cooling bills. The federal funding supplements the state’s own energy assistance program.
States are sharing $3.4 billion in federal LIHEAP funds this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
New Jersey Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez wrote to Obama recently urging him to allocate $4.7 billion for LIHEAP in the fiscal 2013 budget. Read more in Mycentraljersey.
If this is considered that the Obama Administration gave the money to NJ, I guess that means that the Bush Administration gave money to NJ for low income heating for eight full years. And we never thanked them for it! A belated thank you to the Bush Administration for all the programs and billions in aid you sent to NJ.
My point being….. This has nothing to do with the Obama Administration. This money was allocated by an act of Congress, together with hundreds of billions of dollars for other programs, and signed into law by Obama. The act of Congress directs the Obama Administration to send the money to NJ.
Obama deserves the same credit as the local Ocean County Social Services supervisor. They are both following the law enacted by Congress and providing the money to families in Ocean County, NJ.