Low income aid program needs to be done fairly

Low income Arizonans suffering through the long, hot summer don't get any respect from Washington - and little financial assistance either.

Governor Janet Napolitano is upset that the White House has opposed a proposed increase in funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program that would allow it to continue through Sept. 30. Apparently the Office of Management and Budget doesn't think low income people in our state need help at this time of year.

Adding funding to the rapidly diminishing amount for the program "is unnecessary because LIHEAP is largely a heating assistance program and many states end their heating programs by spring," an OMB memo said.

For many of us in Arizona, and other Sunbelt states, the energy spike comes in summer, not winter, and that is when assistance for low income individuals is most critical. Arizonans "faced with economic hardship, skyrocketing energy prices, and record temperatures, must deal with a real and persistent danger from the heat," Napolitano wrote to OMB.

Arizona's Senator Jon Kyl, who voting in opposition to the LIHEAP increase, said the answer is not a temporary increase in funding, it is changing the distribution formula. "Simply spending more money on LIHEAP without first changing the distribution formula, will leave us with the situation we're currently in, with Arizona and the other warm-weather states getting shortchanged."

One can argue whether such an assistance program is really the business of the government, or whether utility assistance should be left to charitable private organizations, some of which already try to help.

But if aid is to be provided by the government, then surely it needs to be fairly distributed. There is no reason why low-income people who need help the most in summer should be denied it in the summer while those who live in cold areas receive it in the winter.

It can be just as deadly to live in a hot climate as a cold one. Napolitano pointed out to the OMB that 28 Arizonans died last year due to extreme heat. That needs to be recognized by the federal bureaucrats creating these programs who think only heating aid is important.