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Apr. 1—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cut the entire team that oversees the federal program that provides heating and cooling assistance to low-income residents, taking the step as part of a sweeping series of cuts Tuesday, officials said.
While the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program remains in effect, its staff has been let go, leaving concerns over how the program will be operated and funds allocated. The layoffs are among the up to 10,000 terminations of DHHS staffers Tuesday, part of a massive effort to reduce the federal workforce in the name of efficiency.
Roughly 51,000 households in Maine rely on the program, said a spokesperson for Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District.
Maine received more than $37.5 million in LIHEAP funding for the 2025 fiscal year, Sen. Susan Collins' office announced in October. Local Native American tribes were given just over $1.4 million.
The program is open to households earning 60% or less of the state median income, according to DHHS. For a four-person household, the maximum income was estimated to be around $67,000 annually, but the Maine State Housing Authority encourages households making more than that to apply, as certain expenses can be deducted.
Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, said states have already received about 90% of their funding for 2025, with the remaining 10% promised in the continuing resolution approved last month.
"So we're fortunate in that sense. The remaining 10%, though, is equally important," Wolfe said on a Tuesday afternoon phone call. "The program is running, the question is when will Maine receive the remaining 10% of the funds. No one knows now because there's no office to administer (them)."
Wolfe said there is currently "no reason to think that we will not get the money" but cautioned that the mass firing is unprecedented, leaving the next steps unclear.
The LIHEAP office is relatively small, Wolfe said. He estimated its staff included about 20 people.
Those staff members typically act as liaisons between the federal government and individual states, which administer their own local programs. They deal mostly in oversight, auditing and ensuring payments are made, he said.
Maine's program is relatively robust compared to other states, Wolfe said.
A spokesperson for Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said his office was unable to independently confirm reports about the cuts. But King hopes Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will agree to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next week.
DHHS did not return a message sent through its media portal asking to confirm and provide additional details about the cuts, including how the program will be administered moving forward.
This story will be updated.
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