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JOINT RESOLUTION MEMORIALIZING THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES TO ADEQUATELY FUND THE LOW-INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
WE, your Memorialists, the Members of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Maine now assembled in the Second Regular Session, most respectfully present and petition the President and the Congress of the United States as follows:
WHEREAS, the Low-income Home Energy Assistance Program is a necessary federal program that was created in 1981 to replace a patchwork of federal energy assistance programs that arose from the energy crisis of the 1970s, and since that time this program has helped the people of Maine who need fuel assistance; and
WHEREAS,  Maine, one of the most oil-dependent states in the nation, has received $39,981,695 to fulfill its program obligations, down from $56,600,000 last year; and
WHEREAS,  approximately 64,000 families in Maine receive aid through the Low-income Home Energy Assistance Program, with an average benefit last year of $804, and 53% of the households served include low-income senior citizens or persons with disabilities; and
WHEREAS,  the decrease in funding will disproportionately affect the New England states, which are already facing a 25% increase in the cost of home heating oil this year, and these states have a dire need to have the funding restored; and
WHEREAS,  the Low-income Home Energy Assistance Program is crucial to those Maine families who are relying on the federal program to help with weatherization costs for their homes and with winter fuel bills, and this reduction in funding is a devastating blow to people already hit hard by the recession; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED: That We, your Memorialists, respectfully urge that legislation be enacted by the Congress of the United States to restore funding in the 2013 fiscal year budget to at least $4,700,000,000, as provided in the 2011 fiscal year budget; and be it further
RESOLVED: That suitable copies of this resolution, duly authenticated by the Secretary of State, be transmitted to the Honorable Barack H. Obama, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate and the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and to each Member of the Maine Congressional Delegation.