The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday is expected to mark up its draft budget reconciliation package that would provide an additional $1 billion in federal assistance to help low-income customers deal with the anticipated higher energy costs this winter.

The committee, chaired by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), tacked on the proposed additional funding for the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) at the end of its 96-page budget proposal for fiscal year 2006, which focused mainly on broadcast and healthcare issues.

The House panel’s recommended increase in the LIHEAP appropriation is designed to offset the higher natural gas and crude oil costs that stem from the lost and shut-in production in the Gulf of Mexico following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to the budget text. The Energy Information Administration predicts that heating customers will pay an average of 48%, or $350, more (under normal winter weather) from October through March for natural gas as wholesale prices average $11.40/Mcf (see Daily GPI, Oct. 13).

The proposed hike is a one-time supplement that would expire Sept. 30, 2006.

The House-passed version of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education spending bill for fiscal year 2006 (HR 3010) would provide $2 billion for LIHEAP, the same as the amount sought by the White House, while the Senate version of the bill would provide $2.2 billion for the program, according to Congressional Quarterly’s Green Sheets.

The Senate voted against a proposal last week that would have provided an additional $3.1 billion for LIHEAP this winter (see Daily GPI, Oct. 24). The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), would have added the emergency funding to the Bush administration’s $2 billion request, bringing total funding for LIHEAP this winter to the maximum level authorized under the Energy Policy Act ($5.1 billion).

Forty-four Republicans, along with two Democrats, blocked Reed’s amendment. A growing number of GOP lawmakers believe that LIHEAP, which caters mostly to needy heating customers in New England and the Midwest, needs to be reformed to also offer assistance to eligible air conditioning customers in the South.

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