Sen. Bernie Sanders is warning of a severe winter health emergency if federal spending for home heating assistance isn’t restored.
The Obama administration cut its request for heating assistance funding from $5 billion to $2.5 billion, based on projections last spring that energy prices would fall.
But Sanders says that hasn’t happened, and the result is that many people living in colder regions this winter may have to go without needed financial heating assistance.
He says that in Vermont, heating oil prices are projected to be about 25 percent higher this year than last winter and could soon top $4 a gallon.
The six New England governors also recently warned the president about significant shortfalls in home heating assistance funds.