A wall-mounted thermostat. (Photo by Willowpix/iStock Getty Images Plus)
Not only are low-income Ohioans facing disruption of federal food help as the Trump administration thus far refused to release it. With nighttime temperatures dipping into the 30s, the future of federal energy assistance is in doubt as well.
Because of the Oct. 1 government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services hasn’t received 2026 funding for the program known as the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
Ohio isn’t among the states such as Pennsylvania that have told clients that the start of assistance will be delayed as cold weather sets in.
The program last year spent $43 million assisting 246,000 clients in Ohio, according to the state Department of Development, which administers it.
The department is using leftover funds to underwrite the program, said Mason Waldvogel, a spokesman.
“Ohio’s HEAP Winter Crisis Program opened as scheduled on November 1, and our local energy assistance providers are currently helping eligible Ohioans statewide,” Waldvogel said in an email Friday.
“The Department of Development is funding the program with no additional state dollars, using available carry-over funds from the previous program year to ensure services continue without disruption.”
He added, “We remain committed to ensuring Ohioans have access to the energy assistance they rely on throughout the winter season and will continue to monitor funding availability.”
He didn’t immediately respond, however, when asked how long the department could support the program in the absence of additional federal funds.
Over the weekend, the U.S. Senate advanced a bill to end record-breaking government shutdown, but the shutdown is ongoing until a spending bill is passed by both chambers.
As the thermometer dips and power bills spike, federal funds will become increasingly crucial.
Molly Bryden, who has studied the energy assistance program for Policy Matters Ohio, said the program is especially important for the most vulnerable.
“Energy assistance can be lifesaving for older Ohioans, families with young children, and Ohioans with a disability, who disproportionately face high energy burdens,” she wrote in an April policy paper.
“Older populations and children under two are acutely vulnerable to unsafe indoor heating, which accounts for an estimated 45% of heat-related deaths in the U.S. over the past 20 years.“
She added that to maintain utility service, people often turn to dangerous alternatives to heat their homes.
“During colder months, households may live in uncomfortable, unsafe conditions or use secondary heating equipment – like stoves, ovens, or space heaters – to lower their energy use, increasing exposure to toxic indoor air pollutants,” Bryden wrote.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
In an interview last week, she said it’s been hard to figure out what’s next for the program.
“Obviously, LIHEAP funding is wrapped up in that whole appropriations package that is part of the government shutdown, so there’s a lot of uncertainty around what’s going to happen in the next fiscal year,” Bryden said.
“I’ve been having a hard time finding out what is happening moving forward.”
Even aside from the shutdown, the future of the program seems cloudy.
President Donald Trump thus far has refused to fund nutrition assistance for 42 million Americans — and 1.45 million Ohioans — even though a federal judge has ordered him to.
On Thursday, the judge accused Trump of playing politics with a program that stands between masses of Americans and hunger.
Trump had already demonstrated hostility toward the anti-hunger program.
His One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last summer cut it by $186 billion over the next 10 years.
So it’s perhaps unsurprising that he’s used the shutdown as a reason for not funding it — even though previous administrations did in all earlier shutdowns.
The nutrition cuts come in addition to a cut of nearly $1 trillion to Medicaid — the health program for the poor — over the same period.
Trump zeroed out energy-assistance funding in his proposed budget.
And because he fired all the federal employees in charge of administering it, there are fears that restarting the program will be delayed once the shutdown ends.
Bryden said all these are working against the most vulnerable Ohioans.
“All of the attempts to dismantle the public-assistance landscape at the federal level is really sowing a lot of uncertainties for Ohio families just trying to put food on the table,” she said.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
