It's coming on winter, and there's no doubt in my mind that people will die because of cuts

[cali]

to LIHEAP. And please, save, the "it's not really a cut rhetoric". It is and furthermore heating costs are estimated to be considerably higher this winter. People will take desperate and dangerous methods to keep from freezing.


From the Hartford Courant:

Don't Cut Heating Help
Federal Energy Assistance: Budget-paring measure could have dangerous consequences
August 11, 2011

Scores of thousands of low-income families in Connecticut could have a brutal winter ahead as temperatures head down and the cost of home heating oil increases.

That's because the Obama administration has scheduled a 50 percent cut in the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program in its fiscal 2012 budget proposal.

This is inhumane. It's imperative that the huge proposed reduction in energy assistance be canceled and that this essential government aid be protected.

In some cases, the fuel aid can make a life-or-death difference. The need for this vital assistance by vulnerable families struggling in a bad economy to pay for rent, food, medical care, energy and other expenses can't be disputed — especially in New England, a region with cold winters and hot summers.

If enacted, more than 3 million eligible low-income households — or almost 9 million people nationwide — would be denied assistance for heating and cooling their homes. This year, Connecticut received a little over $98 million in LIHEAP funding. Under the proposed 2012 budget, the state would get only $41 million.

<snip>

http://articles.courant.com/2011-08-11/news/hc-ed-heating-aid-20110811_1_budget-proposal-federal-energy-assistance-million-in-liheap-funding

[Brickbat]

1. K&R from the northern part of a northern state.

[w8liftinglady]

2. I agree- that would benefit the poor in the North and the South.

[durablend]

3. That's OK

They can just eat peas and clap louder to keep warm.

:sarcasm:

[muffin1]

4. ...

:thumbsup:

[RandomKoolzip]

5. More and more, my paranoia is leading me to believe that the constant push for "spending cuts"

is nothing more than a barely-veiled part of a mass extinction plan the GOP has been hoping for for decades. And for some reason, Dems and center-left types are following along because they've somehow been convinced that the GOP is "serious" and forcing the already poor to get poorer and then die off is "serious." I mean there's nothing worse than appearing "unserious" on the Sunday talk shows.

Anyway, yes, you're right: SPENDING CUTS WILL LEAD TO THE DEATHS OF MANY, MANY AMERICANS.

[area51]

8. I hear you.

The constant lies of the rightwingers, including the so-called "pro-lifers" who really don't care about life at all, because if they did, they'd be fighting for everyone to have a right to health care. Basically the gop wants to get rid of people they consider "undesirables". Take your pick on how best to describe it: Dickensian or Hitlerian.

[Generic Other]

6. Where's Bobbolink? She usually comments on threads like this one

I have been wondering if she is still around.

[MineralMan]

10. Bobbolink last posted on DU on July 23.

I don't know what's become of her. There was a long gap between that post and her previous post, too.

[dionysus]

7. yeah, cutting this was a stupid thing to do.

[Little Star]

9. Could not agree more Cali! k&r

[indepat]

11. MIC funding and tax cuts for the uber-wealthy will be protected at all costs, no matter how many

little people must die as drastic cuts are made in social spending: this is the American way in the 21-century when budget priorities are driven by a RW PNAC agenda. :patriot: