Trump Wants To Freeze Poor And Disabled People To Death By Eliminating Low Income Energy Assistance

The Trump budget calls for the elimination of LIHEAP, which is a low-income home energy assistance program that helps 6.7 million Americans stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

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Trump’s budget proposed the unnecessary elimination of a program that has seen its funding level stay at $3.39 billion since 2015.

Campaign for Home Energy Assistance director Michael Bracy said, “We are deeply disappointed with today’s recommendation. That being said, our organization and thousands of energy-assistance advocates across the nation will continue to support increased funding to the program. At its current levels, LIHEAP can only serve a small portion of families in need, and we will continue to work with key decision makers to spread awareness of the program’s impact across the nation and raise funding to a commensurate level.”

LIHEAP can literally be a lifesaver. Energy assistance can allow an impoverished person to keep the heat on the winter, or be a path to surviving extreme summer heat by running an air conditioner.

Defunding LIHEAP would be an act of cruelty

There is no good policy reason to defund energy assistance for poor people. Trump and his White House are driven by an ideology of wealth redistribution to the top. The $3.39 billion in funding for LIHEAP could be used to help cover the revenue lost by cutting taxes for the wealthy. There is no reason for this administration to go out of their way to intentionally harm vulnerable people, but harming the vulnerable is a character trait of this administration.

The Trump budget is a warning to seniors and the poor

The Trump budget is not going to pass. It is going to be tossed in the trash can and quickly forgotten by Congress, but the message that it sends in terms of priorities is important. Donald Trump is coming after poor people and those who need the most help. When people discuss electing a Democratic Congress to check Trump, this is an example of what they are referring to.

Democrats won’t let poor people boil or freeze because they can’t afford heat or air conditioning.

A Democratic Congress will kill these bad ideas dead in their tracks, and the Trump budget should give voters ample reason to get to the polls and make sure that Trump’s vision of an American nightmare can’t become their reality.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association