REGIONAL- The abrupt termination of the entire national staff overseeing a $4.1 billion federal energy assistance program last week left more than 10,000 Minnesota households uncertain about whether they’ll receive critical funds to help pay their energy bills.
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, typically supports 6.2 million Americans annually by helping cover heating and cooling costs. But the Trump administration’s recent decision to lay off all employees administering the program has thrown its future into question.
“They fired everybody. There’s nobody left to do anything,” Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, told the New York Times last week. “Either this was incredibly sloppy, or they intend to kill the program altogether.”
The layoffs were part of brutal cuts at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where 10,000 workers were terminated, gutting a program that monitors lead exposure levels in children, axing researchers working on birth defects, and sharply reducing food and drug inspectors. Another 10,000 employees had already been let go earlier this year.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News that some of the cuts may be reversed.
“The part of that, DOGE – we talked about this from the beginning – we’re going to do 80 percent cuts but 20 percent of those are going to have to be reinstalled because we’ll make mistakes,” he said.
However, Kennedy did not clarify whether LIHEAP staff would be reinstated or when, and without staff running the program there is currently no plan as to if or how the remaining funds due to the states will be disbursed.
State impact
As is the case nationally, Minnesota had already received 90 percent of its LIHEAP funding, about $112 million for this past winter, last fall, but officials were expecting an additional $12-$13 million to support another 10,000 households before the heating season ends and also to transition into the summer months when some cooling assistance is also provided.
Federal law requires LIHEAP to target households with seniors, disabled members, or children under age six. Roughly half of Minnesota recipients are over 60, and one in six households receiving aid includes a child under the age of 6. The average LIHEAP payment in Minnesota is about $700, and those payments are sent directly to utility companies, not to the applicants.
The Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency is the lead agency for the LIHEAP program in St. Louis, Lake and Cook counties. In 2024, the program processed over 9,000 applications and provided special crisis funds to over 3,000 households.
The Citizens Utility Board of Minnesota warned that even a delay in funds could leave vulnerable residents without heat or fuel. “Even a delay in funding will mean that eligible Minnesotans risk utility shutoffs or being unable to refill empty propane or fuel oil tanks,” said executive director Annie Levenson-Falk.
Minnesota’s Cold Weather Rule protects eligible customers from utility disconnection through April 30, but only if they establish and maintain a payment plan with their provider.
Utilities such as Xcel Energy and Minnesota Power said they are monitoring the situation. “We want to assure customers that we will work with them,” said Amy Rutledge, a spokeswoman for Minnesota Power.
Political pressure
Democratic Minnesota U.S. Sen. Tina Smith joined a bipartisan coalition of senators urging the administration to reverse the firings of LIHEAP staff. Smith called the layoffs “thoughtless and cruel,” citing the more than 10,000 Minnesotans waiting for aid.
“I want answers. I fought for this funding for a reason, and I’m not just going to sit and watch it get ripped away from Minnesotans,” she said in a written statement. The letter to HHS was also signed by Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Jack Reed, D-R.I., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and others from both parties, reflecting the national concern, particularly from elected officials from cold weather states.