Both the House and Senate remain in recess until after the November 3 election. The Senate returns Monday, November 9, and the House is expected back the same week.

LIHEAP:

On October 9, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released $3.63 billion in fiscal year 2027 funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). That includes about $3.59 billion for states, D.C. and the territories, and about $44 million for tribes. The release is 90 percent of the funding available under the continuing resolution (CR) Congress passed last month, which keeps the government funded at current levels through December 11. You can find the state-by-state allocations here.

Last week, Representative Chris Pappas (D-NH) led a bipartisan letter signed by 73 Representatives asking appropriators for an additional $3 billion in emergency LIHEAP funding for fiscal year 2027. “Emergency LIHEAP assistance is urgently needed as winter weather approaches and colder temperatures have already begun,” they wrote. The members also noted that, adjusted for inflation, LIHEAP funding is lower today than when the program was created in 1981. If it were funded at that level, it would have received nearly $7 billion in FY27.