GOP cuts funds for heating aid
NY Times Editorial
A Chilling Departure From the Capitol
December 25, 2005
One of the shabbiest shell games of the year was played out in the closing
hours of Congress in its now-you-see-it, now-you-don't offering of some badly
needed winter heating aid to the nation's working poor. The climactic moment
occurred when Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, huckstering his most treasured
goal, tried to sell oil drilling in his state's pristine wildlife preserve by
promising it would help finance a long list of shoppers' bonuses for his
colleagues: extra money for flu vaccine, hurricane reconstruction,
first-responder radios and - if you vote yes right away - $2 billion in extra
heating aid for the poor this cold winter.
Mr. Stevens's cunning warning was that all those extras would die on the
vine unless Alaska drilling was approved. His cynical flimflammery was
deservedly rebuffed as enough opponents stood firm against the oil drilling.
And soon enough the word went round that things like flu vaccine and hurricane
aid were not endangered after all.
Not so the extra fuel aid for low-income families. There was a heating
supplement tied to the Alaska proposal, as Mr. Stevens promised. But there was
also a separate $2 billion appropriated for the same purpose elsewhere in the
legislation - unconnected to the Alaska floor machinations - that somehow was
struck from the final bill as lawmakers rushed to recess. Malice? Who can say?
Obviously the poor can't afford a campaign donation PAC to catch Congress's
attention for an answer.
The government's home heating supplement now stands at a half or less of
what the poor will need if predictions of a harsh winter pan out and fuel bills
increase 25 percent. Various studies have established that, in a pinch, the
poor scrimp on food purchases in order to meet heating bills. Yet Congress's
stinginess is being compounded by the administration's recent decision to
reject a request from New York and several other states to increase food stamp
outlays to the poor as fuel bills mount.
Lawmakers insist that the $2 billion supplement technically had to be cut -
but may be restored yet again next month. Believe that and we have an oil
derrick to sell you in Alaska.
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