The Trump administration is laying into Gov. Maura Healey after she referred to as for the feds to launch Low Revenue Vitality Help Program (LIHEAP) funding as chilly climate begins to settle in New England.
Healey held a press convention Thursday, calling on President Donald Trump to “do his damn job” and launch the heating help funds instantly.
She additionally despatched a letter to Health and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Director of the Workplace of Administration and Finances Russell Vought, urging the administration to launch the very best allowable quantity of LIHEAP funding approved below the Persevering with Decision (H.R. 5371).
“The Massachusetts Governor continues to blame the Trump Administration for the delay, rather than acknowledging responsibility within her own party, which held the government hostage during the longest shutdown in American history,” HHS Communications Director Andrew Nixon instructed the Herald in an announcement.
“Despite these setbacks, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is moving swiftly to distribute annual awards and restore essential services that were stalled when the Democrat-led shutdown obstructed the Department’s ability to serve the nation’s most vulnerable families,” he mentioned.
Below the Persevering with Decision, Congress appropriated $4.025 billion for LIHEAP. The Workplace of Group Providers (OCS) – which falls below the ACF umbrella – mentioned it plans to make use of the particular authority to launch a complete of $3.7 billion in LIHEAP funds, together with $3.6 billion of FY26 common block grant funding, plus an extra $100 million of the ultimate supplemental funding obtainable below the Infrastructure Funding and Jobs Appropriations Act.
HHS says it anticipates the funding launch will happen by the tip of this month.
Throughout her press convention, Healey blasted Trump for displaying what she calls “a complete disregard for the wellbeing of Americans, including Bay Staters, by the actions they continue to take.”
“We have cold temperatures coming next week and the week after. We have a polar vortex expected to be upon us soon here in Massachusetts and New England, and it is unacceptable to me that Massachusetts families and residents are going to go without heating assistance that they are due from the federal government,” Healey mentioned through the press convention. “So, my message to Donald Trump is get that money out the door and get it out today.”
Healey’s letter additionally requested Kennedy and Vought to make sure this system is absolutely staffed and operational so states can keep away from delays in implementing help plans, and to offer clear steerage and coordination to the states on timelines, eligibility, and disbursement mechanisms.
Healey’s Thursday press convention got here simply someday after a brand new report, launched by the Fiscal Alliance Basis and reported on by the Herald, that discovered state local weather insurance policies and mandates are the first driver behind hovering vitality prices in Massachusetts. The governor mentioned she “disagrees” with the report’s findings.
The governor’s phrases additionally come someday after she deflected blame for elevated vitality prices relative to her stoppage of two pure gasoline pipelines as legal professional normal. She even went on to disclaim ever stopping the pipelines, regardless of bragging about it whereas on WBUR throughout her 2022 marketing campaign.
The Herald has reached out to Healey’s workplace for remark.
