This program helps 6 million families pay their energy bills. Here’s what’s at risk if it’s cut.

Jessica Kutz

Gender, climate and sustainability reporter

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The Trump administration wants to eliminate the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a little-known piece of the social safety net that helps low-income people pay their utility bills.

Congress created the program in 1981, initially to help people pay for heating in the winter. The program — which has had broad bipartisan support — has increasingly been used to pay for cooling as summers grow hotter and more dangerous to human health due to climate change.

At a recent budget hearing, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, called the program a “lifesaver” for residents in Alaska when questioning Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about