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Toby Talbot / AP
Many Northeast homes still rely on deliveries of oil for much of their winter heat.
WASHINGTON -- Mary Power is 92 and worried about surviving another frigid New England winter because deep cuts in federal home heating assistance benefits mean she probably can't afford enough heating oil to stay warm.
She lives in a drafty trailer in Boston's West Roxbury neighborhood and gets by on $11,148 a year in pension and Social Security benefits. Her heating aid help this year will drop from $1,035 to $685. With rising heating oil prices, it probably will cost her more than $3,000 for enough oil to keep warm unless she turns her thermostat down to 60 degrees, as she plans.
"I will just have to crawl into bed with the covers over me and stay there," said Power, a widow who worked as a cashier and waitress until she was 80. "I will do what I have to do."
Thousands of poor people across the Northeast are bracing for a difficult winter with substantially less home heating aid coming from the federal government.
"They're playing Russian roulette with people's lives," said John Drew, who heads Action for Boston Community Development, Inc., which provides aid to low-income residents in Massachusetts.
The issue could flare just as New Hampshire votes in the Republican presidential primary.
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said she hopes the candidates will take up the region's heating aid crunch because it underscores how badly the country needs a comprehensive energy policy.
Several Northeast states already have reduced heating aid benefits to families as Congress considers cutting more than $1 billion from last year's $4.7 billion Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program that served nearly 9 million households.
Families in New England, where the winters are long and cold and people rely heavily on costly oil heat, are expected to be especially hard hit. Many poor and elderly people on fixed incomes struggle with rising heating bills that can run into thousands of dollars. That can force them to cut back on other necessities like food or medicine.
"The winter of 2011-12 could be memorable for the misery and suffering of thousands of frigid households," New Hampshire's Concord Monitor newspaper said in an editorial. "Heating oil prices are expected to hit record highs, and federal fuel assistance may reach a record low for recent years."
Higher home heating oil prices and more families seeking aid due to the sour economy are straining resources. There's a 10 percent surge in new applicants in Boston, Drew said.
"Our whole program could hit a rock soon," said Mark Wolfe of the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association.
Families can expect to pay, on average, about $3,300 to heat a home with oil this winter in New England, Wolfe said. That's about $500 more than last winter. About half of the region's homes use oil heat.
Congress, which is locked in a bitter battle over reducing spending, still must decide how much money to give the program for the budget year that began Oct. 1.
In fall 2008, amid concerns about rising fuel prices, the government nearly doubled fuel assistance, releasing $5.1 billion to states for the following winter.
But last February, President Barack Obama proposed cutting the program nearly in half, calling for about $2.5 billion. The House is considering $3.4 billion for fuel assistance, while the Senate reviews a $3.6 billion proposal.
Snowe, along with Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are pushing for $4.7 billion, last year's funding level, but they face long odds.
The government has given an initial round of funding, $1.7 billion, to the states.
In Maine, one of the coldest states, the average benefit has been reduced by about $500. The state's average benefit last winter was about $800 among 63,842 households served. The average income of recipients was $16,757. About 80 percent of Maine households use oil heat.
"It's a very serious situation," Dale McCormick, director of MaineHousing, a state agency that administers heating aid, said. "We can't send out money we don't have."
That view is shared by home heat aid advocates across New England and into New York and Pennsylvania. Most of those states have cut benefits. New Hampshire has tightened eligibility requirements.
Vermont's average benefit was cut from $866 to $474. New York's maximum benefit this year is $500, down from $700 last winter. Pennsylvania's minimum benefit is dropping from $300 last year to $100, Wolfe said.
"We have a lot of terrified people who can't see how they are going to survive," said Drew.
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This is happening all across the USA. Not just in the northeast--the northern plains states are affected also.
Yeah,but MSNBC doesn't realize those states exist,so no mention of them.
Yet NJ can afford to pay
One losing football coach 2.3 million. How come Christie has no issue with that?
He has no issue with anything that gives him the excuse to stuff his fat gob. "Old ladies aren't going to give me a bucket of KFC! Now a football coach... oh yeah, he'll take me out to lunch any day of the week!" --- Christie
Are there other alternatives out there for them, can family members help, can people take in an elderly relative for the winter and reduce some costs? Has the community weatherized the homes of the elderly and poor? It is happening all over, and these are some of the things people do. I am not sure if state budgets will ever be able to meet the rising costs of heating fuel for everyone.
Great ideas, but the one missing element is that 'government' (comprised of real human, not humane beings) does not feel obligated to care for our most infirmed and needy citizens--not one iota. That, folks, is the hell of it all!
And, with that, a magical Christmas to all. Better yet, when you actually SEE a downtrodden or poor or elderly person along the way, invite them for a warm drink of tea or coffee and an inexpensive sandwich to sustain them. Food really does fuel the body and warms the heart!
Sheila you are right this is the real issue this has worked for ever help your fellow person that what families should be doing thise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like how everyone is concerned about the elderly not being able to pay for heating oil this winter. BUT want to CUT FUNDING for Social Security. So unDemocrat don't you think???
92 years old, she must be doing something right, but as a wee 73 years old I know I feel cold at 60 degrees and I do just what she does I cover up.
Whatever has happened to the loving and caring America of 'give me your tired, your poor...'?
So, as the fraudulent 'suits' are running for elected office; banksters are gouging Americans with high bank fees and cheap look-a-like merchandise from overseas overflows on our retail shelves, and finally, as fat cats are stuffing their faces with appetizers and downing Dom Perignon during the holidays, may their cholesterol peak, their BP (that's blood pressure, folks!) rise, their waistlines & hips bulge even more---
Now this is all going on while Americans freeze (and even starve) to death! Way to go, guys & dolls!! Tossing grandma-ma and grandpa-pa isn't such a big deal after all, is it? And, a Merry-Merry and ho-ho-ho to all!
Noelle
Looks like you didn't read the article either.
Like I told Real with a quote from the article.
Obama proposed a 50% CUT in the Heating program. The NASTY,NAZI "Teabaggers" propose RAISING to funding by about 1 Billion. READ THE ARTICLE!! Ya know that this is the type of thing that happens when the Gov't hasn't had a BUDGET in about 3 years. I wonder whose fault that is???
This has allso been goinc on for ever!!!!!!!!
Noelle, that was written when your tired and poor came from civilized countries with a good work ethic and morals , now Teddy Kennedy got us a bunch of third worlders coming in and coming in by the millions that are changing the way of America Forever !!!!! For the worse !!!
The "Fat Cats" are profiting off these people's despair with futures trading. "Fat Cats" make money off everything we do - health care, medicines, gas, heating oil and food - without contributing anything of value. Face it, the money is getting funneled upward at a steady stream and we are working harder and longer to pay for it!
may I add throw the Cancer Patients out of the Hospitals in mid-treatment, Refuse them Kemo unless the Doctors can fund an office to do the job themselves. Send Breast Cancer Mothers home after working for years to school children who have to care for a dieing mom, becausebudget cuts, have eliminated the whole Cancer Ward in the Hospital. This is The USA Christmas Story of 2011. So Legislators Can Vacation on the taxpayer anywhere in the World OPEN CREDIT CARD, Paid by any UNAPPROPRIATED FUNDS. what incentive do our legislators have to actually legislate when they are vacationing on US.
Looks like a southbound migration in the works. Go to where the heat is...free.
Heat is not free in the middle of a Texas summer...trust my electric bill...it goes both ways (both can kill you)
There are not many alternatives Sheila. Family members usually don't consider budget help for older relatives nor do they really even think of them as poor--usually it is the seniors helping out the children. Community weatherization is given by the same community action groups that have had their funding cut. Habitat for Humanity tries to help but does not have the money to help everyone. Churches will help sometimes--but only if you are a member and tithing. There just isn't enough to help everyone.
I know, all those ideas were probably a drop in the bucket. I think one poster had a good idea, a migration to the south. That takes money too, and who really wants to move from their families, especially at that age. Every community and every church needs to step up to the plate and make sure people stay warm this winter. I think it can be done, but people need to put their priorities in order. Since there is so much poverty in America, churches need to rethink where they send their mission dollars. Or cut your Christmas budget and fill up some needy person's fuel tank or pay their December bill.
Right again!!!!!!!!!
Kat - There just isn't enough to help everyone.
Yes - actually there is enough. Its just that people who have more then enough don't seem to feel a need to share.
If we just give another tax cut to Big Business and the wealthy this problem will be solved!!
That's a plan?!
I have lived in Slab City, California, with no running water (haul it from town) no sewers (dig a hole and go-then cover it up--or not). The wetbacks come thru at night and take your full bottles of water and leave their emptys, take food if you have any outside--and leave something in its place (a religious medal, or a used t-shirt, ect). You are screwed if your car breaks down because your neighbor will take you to town--for a fee from $20.00 on up--Nyland is 4 miles away. The poor are everywhere. And don't ask a rich Snowbird for help out there, as a woman all you get is propositions--kinda like work your way to what you need.
I'll take my chances on freezing to death--You just go to sleep and never wake up!!
I had to google Slab City, I had no idea what that was. Do you just stay there for the winter? By yourself? It is unbelievable the neighbors would charge 20.00 for an eight mile trip. I don't think I would ever be that adventurous.
The ones who are there for the winter are the snowbirds.
I was foolish enough to uproot my 2 children and go to California with a man. I had a job waiting but we never got that far. One day he brought "home" a friend from the bar--who made friends with him just to "attack" my (at the time 16 year old) daughter. Needless to say I scrounged up the money from family and friends to get out of Nyland.
We lived in slab city for a year. It was warm and beautiful country, but not the best neighborhood.
I'm not familiar with heating oil. Are there cheaper ways to heat these homes, or at least, the room the person is in? I have electric heat and I only heat the room I'm in. My monthly electric bill is usually not above $50.
Oil is the most expensive way to heat, at least initially. It is the warmest heat, so I don't know if it takes less to keep warm. I imagine the conversion costs would be high, and I don't know for sure how warm people would stay with electric or propane in that kind of climate. Just my thoughts. I have been looking at houses, and whenever I see electric or fuel oil as the heating source, I kind of browse on. I never thought about that with electric, though, just heating the room you are in.
Try heating you home for fifty bucks when it's 10 below zero out side .
d_in_abq,
Electric heat is more expensive, at least in Minnesota. I use natural gas and in the coldest months it will run about $275.00 a month. And that is with the thermostat set at 65 during the day--lower at night.
Just heating the room you are in is fine if you can close off the other rooms, some of us do not have that luxury.
Various forms of energy for heat are more or less expensive at different times. During the oil crisis of the 70's many in the northeast converted to gas or electric (or even wood) which later became even more expensive than oil so oil returned as the preferred heat source. Conversion is expensive but there is no guarantee that next year you won't regret the choice since the energy industries, I am convinced, determine what source the most people in a region depend on and then run the price up to prohibitive levels. And they get it because of course the government will have to find a way to pay the price so citizens don't freeze to death. Its just another energy industry subsidy.
Thanks for the discussion. It rarely gets below zero in Albuquerque, NM. I certainly don't miss the winters up north. My townhouse is all electric with a heater in each room. I put a cat door in my bedroom so I can keep the heat in and the cats can go in and out of the room.
Electric heat, at least in Connecticut, is no bargain. And there are towns which have not allowed gas lines in the town (Woodbridge in Connecticut) so people have no choice but oil. If Ms Power "lives" on less than $12K a year, moving is not an option. In case you don't realize it, even moving across town costs a bundle.
Where is the bio alternative to home heating oil? I've read stories of them trying to develop a bio fuel from algae grown in the desert. Where is this technology? We need cheap bio fuels that can be used in existing oil furnaces (not to mention in cars & trucks). We need the government to get this off the ground with a project of the same scale as the Manhattan Project during WWII. If we wait for private energy companies to do it, we'll be waiting until they've sold the last drop of oil at the highest possible price.
I don't have much, ($898.00/mo from SS) but my neighbors get an anonomous bag of food when they need to feed their children. And I have asked older kids in the neighborhood to shovel out some of the seniors who can't shovel themselves out.
It makes you feel good to help and the people on the other end think they have a guardian angel.
That is an inspiration. If everyone had a like mindset, wouldn't things just kind of take care of themselves:)
Screw the poor!
Our country has sold itself to the Chinese- Instead of focusing on growing a strong economy we need to put our attention to cutting services that are critical to the poor and elderly.
In a free market these people will die and that's the American way!
Thank you GOP and Tea Party for teaching me the ways of good government.
BUDGET YEAR?
The USA hasn't had a budget for over 3 years. Just spending bills!
Oh, so what has the US House and Senate been doing?
EEJAY
Ask Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi that question. They were in complete charge for 4 years.
Living out here in the NW, it normally doesn't get that cold as the NE does, but in winter time, my thermostat is set at 64 in the day, and auto goes to 60 at night. On budget billing, I pay 80 per month, and everything is total electric. If I feel cold, I just put on extra clothes.
You do what you have to to survive. Everyone, except the top 5% or so is running out of money. I feel sorry for those people back east, especially the older people on fixed incomes. And I don't think either party is going to help them with their fuel bills.
A lot of the money being wasted on war would go a long way to help people in this country, but oh no, the MIC comes first, then the other corporations, and down at the bottom of the list, well here we are, the American Taxpayers.
It really is sad how so many people are suffering. We see it all day long. Unfortunately people have come to assume the government will help them and get into a situation when it does not happen, they are stuck. Ever notice there is no other way to pay for oil except cash? We changed it at neighboroil_dot_com
Hope all stay warm this winter!
60 degrees is good if she's cold let her get a dog. Wish I had Cooling assistance in the long hot humid summers in texas.
I have not had cooling (air conditioning) for over 5 years. I sit in front of a fan, or outside in the shade where the breezes blow.
You can always get a swamp cooler--they work quite well!!
Unknown, when you are old, 60 degrees is not warm. I visited my great-aunt yesterday and her house must have been about 75 at least, and she was still bundled up. And winter hasn't even really started yet. She is fortunate in that her place is real tiny, and she has extended relatives that will make sure she stays warm. Not everyone is that fortunate. She will be 105 on Dec 14th :)
Most americans in need are fat and yet they need.
In the desert they do, but when the humidity is high they just blow hot muggy air around.
clyde havard, yes they are mostly fat....do you know why? Because they have to eat very fattening food that are cheap. Read up a little.
Caring for a dog is expensive, too.
"Let them eat cake". - Marie Antoinette, prior to the French revolution
"Let them freeze to death" - with applause and cheering at Rebublican debate
Just
I guess that you didn't read the article either. Doesn't ANYBODY READ ANY more??
Obama CUT the FUNDING.
Well, I have mixed emotions on helping the poor. Having family members and friends of friends that are the living poor with ssi, disability payments and getting free rides on every free service they can get their hands on because the are poor BUT, they also have money to drink, do drugs, hang out at the casinos, shopping and buying things they don't need but just want. Working, saving and being financially responsible is not in their vocabulary. When they laugh at me for cutting coupons, I smile and know that I will never be in their position because I take care of business.
I agree, there have been members of my family on disability who didn't need it and they would take every possible freebe they could find, turkey dinner baskets for thanksgiving, ham dinner baskets at christmas and easter from churches they have never attended. In one case one of them got two from each place and they were bragging about it and it just made me sick and these scumbags are really at fault for the funding being cut. Able-bodied people shouldn't be allowed to collect all manner of help, because of them the funding is spread too thin and genuinely needy people who are elderly or legitimately handicapped won't have enough to live in reasonable comfort.
Since you people have friends and/or family who function that way, you tend to think that all or most poor people are the same, but your freeloaders are the exception rather than the rule. Most people with very low incomes forego all but the most basic necessities. There was a time in my life when I was a single mom, my kids were small and I had never worked. I bought everything at garage sales and thrift stores, never ate out, our only recreation/entertainment was camping in the National Forest because it was free, I drove an ancient, high mileage car, I sold blood plasma to buy my kids soup, and we barely scraped by. Fortunately I am reasonably intelligent and I was able to learn a skill that there is a demand for, and we pulled up out of that meager state of existence. But what happens to people who are not a smart as I am? What happens to people who don't know how to change their circumstances? It is easy to tell them to get a grip and fix their lives, but until you have experienced what they are experiencing, you really don't know how hard it can be. It is well to keep in mind that with a minor twist in fate, you could be in their shoes, and you would probably appreciate some kindness from others, rather than the cold, hard attitudes I see in these comments.
Amen Sister, Heartlight. No one thinks it could ever happen to them but they are wrong to think they are invulnerable. There is no way to totally prepare for every eventuallity.
You dear do not actually know you will never be in that position. Just like the woman against health care didn't know she would have breast cancer. Be careful what you say you can handle, God never gives us more then we think we can handle.
Oh well...take your complaints to Washington. Crap like moratorium on drilling, shale, the latest huge deal offered by our northern friends Canada...all being "shelved" until at least after the 2012 election all to placate the eco-loons......... doesn't matter if all precautions are taken...willing to pay more for energy to insure all safe guards possible are in place... sorry poor and seniors on fixed budgets. You can thank your government for freezing to death. OH...and the new gestapo...the EPA!
The Beev. and what was the reason they were freezing 30 or 40 years ago? Yeah, lets just ruining the environment for profit and screw everyone else right?? By the way, from what I read the majority of the oil that would be refined in Texas from the pipeline would be sold to China. So how would that help us??
verno
What you "read" is wrong. Why don't you Google the Keystone Pipeline and LEARN that the Oil is going to OUR REFINERIES. It is NOT going to China. Think about it. Why would Canada build a 3,000 mile Pipeline to PORTS on the Gulf to EXPORT oil to China when they have PORTS and REFINERIES on the Great Lakes?? Or they can build a 1500 mile Pipeline to Vancouver to export the oil to China. Come on man use your head for something other then a hat rack.
Being broke is a bummer. Thats why i spend most of my time avoiding it.
Tiger, so what will you do when you are 90+ like this lady is.
My plan is to kill myself on my 50th birthday.
Diane in WI;
You are indeed smart to cut coupons to save money.
But not all people are as you described. Some of us worked hard all our lives, tried to save, and yet here we are--not able to survive without help.
I raised 2 children without help from their dad, and that took just about all the money I made every month. I still help them if I can. I am old and will die in the not too distant future, they have lots of time left, and I want them to succeed in their lives.
I do not take help unless I really need it. This year I am making everyones christmas presents as I cannot afford to buy anything. But I will not let anyone I know starve or go without heat or help if I can step in and help.
Kat, that is my point exactly. I'm not referring to people like you who DO take care of business and still might need help. Utilizing the programs out there is why they exist and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I too was a single mother for many years and understand being broke and working hard for my family. On the other hand, I see so many people that i know personally, just abuse the system over and over again. I too have helped family members but was not successful because it just turned out to be their lifestyle so I don't anymore. And, making homemade Christmas gifts are indeed a gift as they will cherish them for a lifetime.
If you see abuses in the system--turn them in. If everyone turns a blind eye to people who are using the system to get more than their fair share it hurts the real needy people in the long run.
As for the homemade gifts, some will appreciate them, some will just think I got cheep this year. But that's ok, I enjoyed the making and will enjoy the giving.
the biggest problem with this is that the New England area of the country really doesn't have the weather they claim to have,
they have at the most three to four months of cold weather where they need to heat their homes,
no where near as much as the upper Midwest states where their winter hits them in early October,
here in this New England, they get their winter in late November and some times even late December and only lasts till February or march at the latest,
ask any of these clowns about the winter here and all they can come up with is the "blizzard of "78"",
which most of these clowns weren't even born then or still in grade school and were happy to get out of school,
then they cry and complain about how they don't have the funds to get the roads plowed when they get 2 or 3 inches of snow, they need federal funding,
but as soon as spring comes here, they'll have all the landscapers planting trees and flowers,
they don't trim the trees away from the power lines because it would take away from the aesthetics of the trees, that's a quote from the power company after the recent October snow storm this year.
when that so called hurricane "Irene" hit here with wind gusts at 40 to 50 MPH, they let the power remain out for up to a week in some places because they wanted to get some of the federal funding, they didn't want the "rednecks" in the southern states that get wind gusts at real hurricane speeds at over 100 MPH to get all the federal funding.
To..Some"""
Huh...?
You are right. The midwest was cold (under 50) until june this year, and rainy. It got cold in mid october and will not warm up until april or may.
I live in Mn, and we can vary 20-30 degrees just in the state from north to south. Say it's 20 degrees in Rochester it can be -10 in International Falls.
I guess just because most of the big press institutions and the gov are in the northeast they get more coverage.
We got hit in the heating help department too. About 1/3-1/2 less assistance, and there are alot of people who didn't apply in time and got left out in the cold completely.
if it wasn't true as it is, it would be hilarious with the way these clowns go through their pathetic hypocritical lives,
they will go on all their vacations through out the year, but when they need something done, whether it's getting their over priced fashion statements they drive worked on or their homes or businesses need worked on,
it's all too expensive,
last winter, they had a little bit of snow that accumulated on their roofs,
they all knew it was there, they knew the snow should have been shoveled of, but all they could do was to claim it was either too expensive to get someone to shovel it off, or they actually claimed they didn't know it was as much on the roof after the building collapsed, then they cried and whined for their federal disaster assistance.
Another example of the heartless and cruel Obama administration whose policies, including this and Obamacare, are aimed at killing off the old and the poor. Wake up folks. Mr Obama is going to cut expenditures on your dead body.
dougjmiller, you are a f***ing idiot. Yep this is all Obama's fault and he want to kill off the old. Where has your head been for the last 15 or so years. What an idiot.
So much for the so called "honor code." Leftists can use foul language and launch personal attacks. If nothing else, MSNBC and Newsvine are dishonest hypocrites.
The age old battle of the so called conservative v. so called liberal. Battling ids and hubris, while those caught in the middle pay the price. A Conservative is a statesman who is enamored of existing evils, as distinguished from the Liberal, who wishes to replace them with others. A lose/lose see-saw.
"If they'd just pull themselves up by their bootstraps they wouldn't be poor and they wouldn't be cold"
Signed: Michelle Bachman, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum
You forgot to mention the icon of the Jackass-these folks are prepresenting it well along with thier master Grover.
I keep warm by trying to think up witty thing to say about people who are trying to keep warm but I'mm starting to get cold again but I'mm not going lrt go of my BROADBAND just to stay warm.
She worked at a very hard job until she was 80 , yes we live in a wonderful caring country I'm so proud !!!!
Average, please go to bed and shut the hell up. You are embarrassing your GOP party.
So Average, what is the percentage of the budget that these single mothers use. All welfare systems have abuse, but this does not necessarily mean that we would be better off without them. As with many things, the good can outweigh the bad.
I wonder why I didn't see it, or why this has not been brought up in the political campaigns, the budget problems are caused by Single mothers abusing welfare!!!!!! I can understand the disgust with the abuse, but I don't think it is a very big part of our problems.
So, is it your plan to rid the world of feral cats?