The federal program that helps millions of lower-income households cover winter heating bills opens its new grant year on October 1 without a single dollar appropriated to run it. That gap sits next to a separate fact reported this year by the grant recipients and trade groups that track the program closely: the administration’s budget request for the same fiscal year proposes eliminating the program’s funding entirely. Neither development means heating assistance has ended, but together they explain why state energy offices are bracing for a rockier funding cycle than the one that just closed.
A Grant Year That Starts With a Financial Trigger, Not a Balance
On June 10, 2026, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families issued Action Transmittal LIHEAP-AT-2026-4, the formal notice telling states, the District of Columbia, territories, and tribes how to apply for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funding for federal fiscal year 2027. The notice confirmed that each LIHEAP grant period runs from October 1 through the following September 30, and it set September 1, 2026 as the deadline for a complete FY27 plan — a deadline that has already passed. The transmittal also reminds each grant recipient it can “clone” its prior year’s data into the new plan through the agency’s Online Data Collection system, a shortcut that speeds paperwork once money is available but does not, by itself, trigger any funding.
The transmittal spells out, in the agency’s own words, what has to happen before a dollar reaches a state energy office: the Office of Community Services “will only issue FY27 LIHEAP funding upon an appropriation from Congress; apportionment from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB); and the receipt and acceptance of a LIHEAP Plan submission that meets statutorily required information.” All three conditions have to be satisfied together, and the same notice ties plan approval to a separate paperwork requirement: grant recipients must also file a Household Report tallying how many families the program served in FY2026, including how many included a member 60 or older, before OCS will treat the FY27 plan as complete.
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What LIHEAP Actually Pays For
LIHEAP is a block grant, not a direct payment to households. Money flows from the Office of Community Services to state, tribal, and territorial agencies, which use it to help pay heating and cooling bills, cover crisis assistance when a household’s utility service is about to be shut off, and fund weatherization work such as insulation and furnace repair. The program operates in every state and the District of Columbia, along with most tribal reservations and U.S. territories. Households seeking help with a current bill can contact the agency’s EnergyHelp.us referral site or the National Energy Assistance Referral hotline — resources that predate the FY27 funding fight and do not depend on its outcome. Grant recipients whose FY27 plans come back rejected for missing or inadequate information have until December 15, 2026, to correct and resubmit them.
The Same Program the Administration Wants to Zero Out — Again
Separate from the funding mechanics, the administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget request proposes eliminating LIHEAP funding entirely, according to the American Public Power Association, a trade group representing community-owned electric utilities that tracks the program’s funding cycle each year. The same reporting notes that House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican whose committee would have to act on any such proposal, has told Politico he opposes eliminating LIHEAP.
This would be the second consecutive year the administration has proposed zeroing out the program. The FY2026 budget request made the identical proposal, and Congress rejected it, ultimately setting FY2026 LIHEAP funding at $4.015 billion under a continuing resolution — an increase over the prior year, not the elimination the budget request had called for. The FY2026 cycle also offers a preview of what funding uncertainty looks like once money is finally appropriated: the last 10 percent of that year’s allocation, roughly $421 million, was not released to states until April 20, 2026, after multiple delays, the same trade association reported. All FY2026 funds have since gone out, but the delay left state agencies managing that winter’s caseload without knowing exactly how much money they would ultimately have.
The Bipartisan Pushback in the House
Cole is not the only lawmaker on record against eliminating the program. A bipartisan group of House members wrote to the Appropriations Committee’s leadership on April 8, 2026, formally rejecting the proposal to eliminate LIHEAP funding and arguing the program is a lifeline for constituents who have no other way to cover winter heating costs. A letter carries no legal force of its own — only an enacted appropriations bill does that — but it signals where committee sentiment sat heading into the FY2027 funding fight.
Where the Appropriation Stands as of Today
As of September 10, 2026, no fiscal year 2027 appropriations legislation funding LIHEAP had been signed into law, based on a review of official agency sources. Congress.gov could not be reached to confirm the current status of any pending appropriations bill, so this article does not characterize where any specific bill sits in the legislative process. What is confirmed, in the agency’s own language, is that the Office of Community Services will not release a single FY27 dollar until Congress appropriates it, OMB apportions it, and a state’s plan is accepted — three conditions that, as of today, remain unmet nationwide, even though the grant clock that governs the program has already turned to October 1.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
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