A White House official said the Biden administration plans to provide around $13 billion in aid to households to lower energy costs, prompting critics to denounce the measure as an “election year gimmick” and that the real fix would be to adopt policies that boost domestic energy production.
Vice President Kamala Harris plans to announce the newest initiative while visiting a union hall and training facility in Boston later on Nov. 2, an administration official told reporters during a call on Tuesday.
The initiative includes $4.5 billion in new resources under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help lower heating costs for families this winter, according to a White House fact sheet. Part of the funds will be for covering heating costs and some will be for making home energy repairs to lower heating and cooling bills.
Another $9 billion in new rebate program funding will come from the Inflation Reduction Act. The money will be used for upgrading homes to lower energy bills, including by installing half a million heat pumps and retrofitting homes with better insulation.
The White House billed the initiative, which also includes $250 million to boost heat pump manufacturing in the United States, as a way to lower energy bills, reduce pollution, and “help tackle climate change.”
‘Election Year Gimmick’
Proponents of the new initiative said the measures would lower energy bills for American families, while opponents have criticized them as increasing government dependency and trying to buy votes ahead of the midterms.
“Reduce energy supply to make people dependent on the government—got it,” Tom Borelli, former business executive and Newsmax contributor, said in a statement on social media, commenting on reports about the Biden administration’s newest spending plans.
David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA), told the Daily Mail that the Biden administration has gotten it “completely wrong” on how to go about lowering energy costs.
By Tom Ozimek
