Last Friday, September 25, Representative Chris Pappas (D-NH) and more than 100 House colleagues from both parties wrote to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS. They called for the release of LIHEAP funds no later than November 1. Signers included Representatives Mike Lawler and Andrew Garbarino of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, all Republicans.

The continuing resolution, or CR, that passed earlier this month keeps the government funded at current levels through December 11. Because a CR carries last year's funding level forward, HHS does not have to wait for Congress to finish a full-year spending bill before sending LIHEAP money to the states. It has done exactly that in each of the last two years. It released about 90 percent of the program's annual funding under a CR, roughly $3.6 billion in November 2024 and again on November 28, 2025, after the fall shutdown. The last 10 percent waits for the full year bill, and this year it did not reach the states until April 20.

Read the letter here.