Nov. 4, 2005 – The Bush administration earlier this week denounced Senate Republican’s suggestions that oil companies donate money to a federal program aimed at helping low-income families afford home heating bills. The corporate-charity idea came after last month’s efforts to double federal funding for the program met defeat in the Senate.
In comments to the US Senate Finance Committee Wednesday, Energy Department Secretary Sam Bodman said the administration opposed Senator Charles Grassley’s (R-Iowa) November 1 suggestion that oil companies give a tiny portion of their recent record-breaking profits to the Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Reiterating his stance to reporters later, Bodman said of Grassley’s proposal: "I wouldn’t support it. It is similar to a tax."
Grassley, who heads the finance committee and voted last Wednesday to increase federal funding for LIHEAP, sent letters Tuesday to the nation’s leading oil and gas companies asking them to donate 10 percent of the last quarter’s profits to assist people in paying home-heating bills this winter, the Senator’s office said in a news release. He also requested that each company provide information on its charitable activities.
In a letter to American Petroleum Institute CEO and President Red Cavaney, Grassley said: "As record third-quarter profits are announced across the oil and gas industry, your members have an opportunity to demonstrate that they’re good corporate citizens by giving a fraction of their profits to help the less fortunate."
Home heating prices are expected to jump by a much as 30 to 70 percent this winter, depending on the region of the country, but the federal government has declined to make official efforts to increase help to the poor. In a late October vote, Senators backing higher federal LIHEAP funding failed to push the measure through by six votes.
