U.S. Senator Tina Smith (MN- D) is sounding the alarm about the future of a federal program that helps low-income households pay their energy bills.
This comes after the Trump administration laid off all staff from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program last week, leaving more than 10,000 Minnesota households - and countless others nationally - in limbo.
Smith says while a group of bipartisan senators are trying to reverse the move, it makes things harder for everyday Minnesotans she represents.
"You know, it's April. We just had a huge snowstorm in Minnesota last week," Smith notes. "But soon spring will be here and then the summer will come around and a lot of folks use the energy assistance program to help them cover their air conditioning bills."
The program had already delivered the bulk of allocated aid to the states for this fiscal year but has yet to distribute $378 million in funding - including $12 million to Minnesota.
Smith says she's joined a a group of bipartisan senators in sending a letter to The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. to reverse the firings.
"The Low Income Energy Assistance program is authorized by Congress," Smith says. "The money that Congress appropriated is sitting there, and it is the job of the administration to follow the law and to get that money out the door to people who need it."
Smith adds that maintaining affordable home energy in Minnesota is crucial to the health and safety of many low income families children and seniors.